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CONSISTING  OF  A  SERIES  OF 
DENOMINATIONAL  HISTORIES  PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CHURCH  HISTORY 


(Beneraf  (Bbtfore 

Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.      Bishop  John  F.  Hurst,  D.D.,LL.  D. 
Rt.  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  Rev.  E.  J.  Wolf,  D.  D. 
Rev.  Geo.  P.  Fisher,  D.  D.,  LL.D.    Henry  C.  Vedder,  M,  A. 

Rev.  Samuel  M.  Jackson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Volume  XI 


(American  Cfyuxcfy  giefoit 


A  HISTORY 

OF 

THE  METHODIST  CHURCH,  SOUTH 
THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

AND 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  SOUTH 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

BY 

PROFESSOR  GROSS  ALEXANDER,  D.  D. 
JAMES  B.  SCOULLER,  D.  D. 
PROFESSOR  R.  V.  FOSTER,  D.  D. 

AND 

PROFESSOR  T.  C.  JOHNSON,  D.  D. 

* 

Cfyxiztxixn  Etfetaf ure  Co. 

MDCCCXCIV 


Copyright,  1894, 
By  The  Christian  Literature  Company. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 

PAGE 

CHAP.  I. — Preliminary  History. — Introduction. — The  Situation  in 
the  Colonies. — Early  Legislation. — Case  of  Mr.  Capers. — Bishops' 
Address,  1840. — Withdrawal  of  the  Wesleyans   I 

CHAP.  II. — The  General  Conference  of  1844. — Attempts  at  Pacif- 
ication.— The  Character  of  Bishop  Andrew. — Bishop  Andrew's  Res- 
ignation.— The  Finley-Trimble  Resolution. — Postponement  Sug- 
gested by  the  Bishops. — Extracts  from  the  Protest. — Declaration 
of  the  Southern  Delegates. — The  Plan  of  Separation. — The  Motives 
of  the  Southern  Delegates. — Contention  for  the  Constitution  and 


Law. — The  Canada  Precedent  of  1820   15 

CHAP.  III. — The  Organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. — Address  of  the  Southern  Delegates. — The 
Louisville  Convention. — Organization  Completed   38 

CHAP.  IV. — The  First  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South. — Bishop  Soule's  Communication. — 
Dr.  Capers  and  Dr.  Paine  Bishops. — Fraternal  Delegate  to  M.  E. 
Church   44 

CHAP.  V. — Opposition  and  Friction. — Bishop  Morris's  Letter. — 

Later  Action  of  M.  E.  Church   51 

CHAP.  VI. — Second  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 

South. — The  Property  Question. — Bishop  Bascom   57 

CHAP.  VII. — The  Third  and  Fourth  General  Conferences  of 
the  M.  E.  Church,  South. — The  Publishing  House. — Mission- 
ary Enterprises. — Bishop  Paine's  "  Life  of  McKendree."   62 

CHAP.  VIII. — Some  Glimpses  of  the  War  Period. — Revivals  in 
the  Army. — "  The  Army  Church  "  of  Bishop  Marvin. — The  Situa- 
tion at  the  Close  of  the  War. — The  General  Conference  of  1866.  .  .  69 

CHAP.  IX. — The  General  Conference  of  1866. — Important 
Changes. — Sketch  of  Bishop  Marvin. — Sketch  of  Bishop  McTyeire. 

— Renewed  Enthusiasm   79 

v 


vi 


CONTENTS, 


PAGE 

CHAP.  X. — The  General  Conference  of  1870. — The  Veto  Power 
of  the  Bishops. — The  Colored  M.  E.  Church. — Dr.  Bledsoe  and 
the  "  Southern  Review." — Address  on  Worldly  Amusements   88 

CHAP.  XI. — Leading  Events  from  1874  to  1894. — The  Cape  May 
Commission. — The  Publishing  House  Debt. — Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity.— Dr.  Thomas  O.  Summers. — The  Centenary  of  American 
Methodism. — Bishops  Kavanaugh  and  Pierce. — Prohibition  and 
Divorce. — General  Conference  of  1890   97 

CHAP.  XII. — The  Missions  of  the  Church. — Early  Attempts. — 
Unmonumented  Heroes. — Large  Number  of  Converts. — Pioneer 
Work  in  China. — Three  Missions  in  Mexico. — Mission  to  Japan. 
— Woman's  Missionary  Society. — Woman's  Parsonage  and  Home 
Mission  Society. — Scarritt  Bible  and  Training  School   114 

CHAP.  XIII. — General  View  and  Conclusion. — The  Latest  Statis- 
tics.— Educational  Institutions. — Periodical  Publications. — Homo- 
geneity  of  Southern  Methodism. — Fraternity,  Federation,  Fusion. .  132 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


CHAP.  I. — Reformed  Presbyterian  Element. — Scottish  Cove- 
nanters.— Persecution  in  Scotland. — Covenanter  Immigration. — 
First  Communion. — Reformed  Presbytery  Organized. — Union  with 
the  Seceders   145 

CHAP.  II. — The  Associate  Presbyterian  Church. — The  Seces- 
sion in  Scotland. — Secession  Completed. — Secession  Organized  ...  158 

CHAP.  III. — The  Associate  Church  in  America. — Thomas  Clarke. 
— Opposition  to  Union  with  Burghers. — Increase  of  Ministers. — 
Union  of  Covenanters  and  Seceders   165 

CHAP.  IV. — The  Associate  Church  after  1782. — Testimony. — 
Covenanting. — Synod  Organized. — Slavery. — Sympathy  with  Pro- 
fessor Paxton. — Reformed  Dissenting  Presbytery. — Psalmody. — 
Union   174 

CHAP.  V. — The  Associate  Reformed  Church. — Display  of  Princi- 
ples.— Formulating  Standards. — Presbytery  of  Londonderry. — Oc- 
casional Communion. — Dr.  J.  M.  Mason. — Decay  of  the  General 
Synod. — Union  with  the  Presbyterians   184 

CHAP.  VI. — The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  New  York. — 
Morgan  Abduction. — Temperance  Movement. — Return  of  Library. 
The  Slavery  Question. — Union  with  the  West   203 

CHAP.  VII. — The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  West. — 
Organization  and  Field. — Theological  Seminary. — Action  anent  Slav- 
ery. — Temperance.  —  Testimonies. —  Foreign  Missions. —  Church 
Votes   214 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

CHAP.  VIII.— The  Union  of  1858.— Conventions  Abandoned.— The 

"Testimony." — The  Union  Consummated   225 

CHAP.  IX. — The  United  Presbyterian  Church. —  Intoxicating 

Drinks. — Improved  Psalmody. — Church  Organizations   233 

CHAP.  X. — Education. — Schools  and  Colleges. — Theological  Semi- 
naries   240 

CHAP.  XI. — The  Boards  of  the  Church. — Freedmen. — Foreign 

Missions. — Ministerial  Relief. — Publication   245 

CHAP.  XII. — Denominational  Attitude. — Headship  of  Jesus. — 

Peculiarities. — Conservative     251 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Bibliography   258 

CHAP.  I. — Origin  and  Name   259 

CHAP.  II. — Causes. — James  McGready. — Revival  in  the  Cumberland 
Country. — Cumberland  Presbyterian  Council. — The  Council  Con- 
demned   260 

CHAP.  III. — The  New  Presbytery. — Strict  Sabbath  Observance. . .  268 
CHAP.  IV. — A  Circular  Letter. — Proposition  of  Rev.  David  Rice. 
— Cumberland  Presbytery  Formed. — Strife  between  Presbytery  and 
Synod. — Strife  Continued. — Desire  for  Peace. — Defense  of  the 

Council. — Fraternizing  Advised   272 

CHAP.  V.— The  First  Synod.— The  Synod  Organized.— Perils  of 

Travel   286 

CHAP.  VI. — A  Larger  Growth. — Growth  of  the  Work. — Secret  of 

Success   290 

CHAP.  VII.— Missions   295 

CHAP.  VIII.— Education  '.   297 

CHAP.  IX. — Publication   299 

CHAP.  X. — In  Relation  to  the  Negro   300 

CHAP.  XL— Progress   301 

CHAP.  XII. — Doctrines. — Departures  from  Westminster  Confession. 

— Doctrine  of  Atonement. — Doctrines   303 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Bibliography   313 

CHAP.  I. — The  Southern  Presbyterians  before  1861. — The  An- 
cestors.— Rice's  Overture  on  Missions. — Leading  Ministers   317 


Vlll 


CONTEXTS. 


CHAP.  II. — The  Origin  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States. — The  Assembly  of  1861.  —  Rev.  Dr. 
Spring's  Resolutions. — Rev.  Dr.  Hodge's  Protest. — Effect  of  the 
Resolutions. — The  Southern  Church  Organized. — The  Augusta 
Convention. — Rev.  Dr.  Palmer's  Sermon. — Organization  Effected. 
— Missions  among  the  Indians. — Committee  of  Domestic  Missions. 
— Other  Committees  Organized. — "Address  to  the  Churches." — 
Separation  Defended. — The  Subject  of  Slavery. — The  Ends  Pro- 
posed.— Clerical  and  Lay  Leaders   324 

CHAP.  III. — The  Growth  of  the  Church  and  Development  of 
Her  Agencies  to  the  Present. — Revival  Methods. — Pastoral 
Work. — Foreign  Missions. — The  Executive  Committee. — Recom- 
mendation of  the  Assembly. — Foreign  Missionaries. — Home  Mis- 
sionaries.—  Home  Missions. — The  Invalid  Fund.  —  Presbyterial 
Evangelism.  —  Dr.  Girardeau's  Paper.  —  Colored  Presbyterian 
Churches. — Church  Erection  and  Loan  Fund. — The  Board  of  Aid. 
— Education. — Committee  of  Education. — Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary.— Tuscaloosa  Institute. — Washington  and  Lee  University. — 
Davidson  College. — Westminster  College.  —  Publication. — Colport- 
age. — The  Charter  of  the  Assembly. — Voluntary  Agencies    357 

CHAP.  IV. — Changes  in  the  Constitution  and  Life  of  the 
Church. — Conditions  of  Altering  the  Confession. — Revision  of 
Book  of  Church  Order. — Forms  of  Prayer. — Revision  of  Directory. 
— Temptation  to  Lax  Life. — The  Social  and  Moral  Life  of  the 
Church. — Attitude  of  the  Church  toward  Lynch  Law   410 

CHAP.  V. — The  Relation  of  the  Church  to  other  Bodies. — 
Non-Secular  Character  of  the  Church. — Transient  Inconsistencies. 
— The  Church  Renewing  its  Testimony. — Union  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Presbyterians. — Union  with  United  Synod  of  the  South. — 
Patapsco  and  Alabama  Presbyteries. — The  Synod  of  Kentucky. — 
The  "  Declaration  and  Testimony." — Old  School  Assembly,  North, 
1866. — The  Kentucky  Synod  Outlawed. — Consummation  of  the 
Union. — Union  with  the  Synod  of  Missouri,  O.  S. — Correspondence 
with  other  Bodies. — Correspondence  with  Reformed  Church. — Re- 
lations with  the  Assembly,  North. — Correspondence  with  Presby- 
terians, North. — The  Conclusion   422 


HISTORY  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH,  SOUTH. 


GROSS  ALEXANDER,  D.D., 

Professor  Greek  and  New  Testament  Exegesis,  Vanderbilt  University, 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.1 


I.  General  Sources. 

Journals  of  the  General  Conferences  from  1796  to  1844.  New  York,  Meth- 
odist Book  Concern. 

Journals  of  the  General  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  from  1846  to  1890. 

Journals  of  the  General  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  from 
1848  to  1856.    New  York,  Methodist  Book  Concern. 

Fraternal  Addresses  of  various  Fraternal  Delegates. 

II.  Histories  and  other  Special  Sources, 

Anonymous,  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.     1 845. 
Curtiss,  G.  L.,  Manual  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  History.  New 

York,  Methodist  Book  Concern,  1893. 
Elliott,  Charles,  D.D.,  History  of  the  Great  Secession  from  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church.    Cincinnati,  Methodist  Book  Concern,  1854. 
Harrison,  W.  P.,  and  Barnes,  Miss,  The  Gospel  among  the  Slaves.  1893. 
John,  J.  G.,  D.D.,  Handbook  of  Methodist  Missions.  1893. 
McTyeire,  Bp.  H.  N.,  History  of  Methodism.  1884. 

Matlack,  L.  C,  The  Antislavery  Struggle,  and  Triumph  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.    New  York,  Methodist  Book  Concern,  1881. 

Merrill,  Bp.  S.  M.,  Organic  Union  of  American  Methodism.  Cincin- 
nati, Methodist  Book  Concern,  1892. 

Myers,  E.  H.,  D.D.,  The  Disruption  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  1875. 

Peterson,  P.  A.,  D.D.,  Handbook  of  Southern  Methodism. 

Redford,  A.  H.,  History  of  the  Organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  1871. 

Simpson,  Bp.  Matthew,  A  Hundred  Years  of  Methodism.  New  York, 
Methodist  Book  Concern,  1876. 

III.  Biographies  (arranged  by  subjects,  not  authors). 

Andrew,  Bp.  James  Osgood,  by  George  G.  Smith. 
Bascom,  Bp.  Henry  Bidleman,  by  M.  M.  Henkle.  1854. 
Capers,  Bp.  Wm.,  by  Bp.  Wm.  M.  Wightman.  1858. 
McFerrin,  John  Berry,  D.D.,  by  Bp.  O.  P.  Fitzgerald.  1888. 
McKendree,  Wm.,  by  Bp.  Robert  Paine.    1859,  2  vols.  ;  new  ed.  abridged, 
1875. 

Marvin,  Bp.  Enoch  Mather,  by  T.  M.  f  inney. 
Pierce,  Bp.  George  Foster,  by  George  G.  Smith.  1888. 

1  Unless  otherwise  stated,  these  books  are  published  in  Nashville,  Tenn., 
at  the  Publication  House  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South ;  Barbee 
and  Smith,  present  agents. 

x 


PREFACE. 


In  a  history  confined  to  brief  limits,  only  a  general  out- 
line of  leading  events  can  be  given.  The  leading  events  in 
the  history  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  took 
place,  for  the  most  part,  in  connection  with  the  General 
Conferences.  This  fact  has  largely  determined  the  plan 
and  order  of  treatment  in  the  present  instance.  It  is  true, 
also,  that  in  the  case  of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church 
the  action  of  the  various  General  Conferences  has  been, 
throughout,  representative,  in  a  singular  degree,  of  the 
thoughts,  views,  and  status  of  the  membership  at  large. 
But  for  these  considerations  the  scheme  of  treatment  ac- 
cording to  General  Conferences  might  seem  arbitrary  and 
artificial. 

The  author  has  drawn  largely  upon  the  original  sources, 
and  has  introduced  what  may  appear  frequent  and  lengthy 
extracts  from  the  original  documents.  This  seemed  better 
than  to  give  his  own  abstract  of  their  contents.  The  re- 
production of  essential  portions  of  the  original  documents 
will  give  to  the  history  a  reality  and  authority,  and  to  the 
reader  a  corresponding  sense  of  satisfaction,  which  could 
not  come  from  any  summary,  determined  and  colored,  as 
that  would  be,  by  the  author's  interpretation  of  the  origi- 
nals.   These  are  accessible  to  only  a  few.    With  the  ex- 

xi 


xii 


PREFACE. 


tracts  given  in  the  following  pages,  the  general  reader  will 
be  in  a  position  to  form  his  own  judgments  and  to  draw 
his  own  conclusions. 

The  task  of  the  author  was  confessedly  a  difficult  one. 
A  minister,  conversant  with  the  history,  humorously  said 
to  him : 

"  Lo,  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land 
'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  you  stand." 

The  difficulty  of  the  task  was  rendered  still  greater  by 
the  limitations  of  time  and  space  which  were  imposed. 
That  mistakes  have  been  made  it  is  almost  certain;  that 
the  work  will  meet  the  approval  of  all  readers  cannot  be 
hoped.  The  writer  has  performed  his  task  not  as  he  would, 
but  as,  under  the  circumstances,  he  could.  No  one  can 
be  more  sensible  than  he  of  the  imperfections  of  the  work. 
He  bespeaks  the  charitable  judgment  of  his  readers.  Those 
who  occupy  a  different  point  of  view  will  doutless  find 
much  to  criticise. 

My  thanks  are  due  and  are  given  to  my  colleagues, 
Dr.  Charles  Forster  Smith,  Prof.  Collins  Denny,  Prof.  O.  E. 
Brown,  and  to  Dr.  E.  E.  Hoss,  editor  of  the  "  Nashville 
Christian  Advocate,"  for  looking  over  proofs,  and  for  many 
helpful  suggestions.  No  one,  however,  is  responsible  for 
the  views  herein  expressed  but  the  author  himself. 

G.  A. 

Theological  Department,  Vanderbilt  University, 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  January  24,  1894. 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


CHAPTER  L 

PRELIMINARY  HISTORY. 

In  i  766,  Methodism,  which  had  turned  old  England  up- 
side down,  came  hither  also,  to  this  new  world.  It  planted 
itself,  as  if  by  a  prophetic  instinct,  simultaneously  in  two 
places,  one  of  them  in  the  South,  one  of  them  in  the 
North.  From  these  two  centers  and  throughout  these 
two  regions  it  extended  itself  in  every  direction,  through 
New  York,  New  England,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania, 
through  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia. 
Nevertheless  this  Methodism  was  one, 

One  army  of  the  living  God, 

coalescing  more  and  more  under  the  plastic  hands  of  As- 
bury  and  Rankin,  and  taking  organic  form  in  the  confer- 
ence of  1773  and  those  that  followed.  It  was  not  Northern 
Methodism  and  Southern  Methodism  ;  it  was  Methodism, — 
Christianity  in  earnest,  seeking  and  saving  the  lost.  To  the 
influence  and  the  extension  of  this  common  Methodism  the 
North  contributed  and  the  South  contributed.  If  the  North 
gave  to  Methodism  such  men  as  Nathan  Bangs  and  Free- 
born Garrettson  and  Joshua  Soule,  the  South  furnished  her 


2 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  l 


quota  of  such  as  Philip  Bruce  and  Jesse  Lee  and  William 
McKendree.  If  increasing  and  incredible  thousands  were 
annually  added  to  the  rolls  of  the  church  and  the  number 
of  the  saved  in  New  York  and  New  England,  answering 
thousands  were  added  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  in 
Georgia  and  Tennessee.  In  all  that  Methodism  accom- 
plished and  in  all  that  Methodism  was,  the  North  had  an 
equal  part  with  the  South  and  the  South  had  an  equal 
part  with  the  North — unless  in  point  of  numbers  the  North 
had  somewhat  the  advantage.  But  while  this  was  true, 
in  another  respect,  the  South  had  an  advantage  over  *the 
North,  due,  however,  in  no  way,  to  the  fault  of  the  North. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Bristol,  fraternal  delegate  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  said,  at  the  General  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal'  Church,  South,  in  1890:  "I 
am  not  ignorant,  brethren,  of  the  fact  that  the  colored 
people  of  the  South  are  indebted  to  your  fathers  for  their 
Christianity  and  for  their  Methodism."  If  there  was, 
then,  a  department  of  the  great  work  to  which  the  one 
section  of  the  church  had  access  and  the  other  had  not, 
except  in  a  very  limited  way,  it  was  the  opportunity  and 
privilege  of  giving  the  gospel  to  the  African  slave  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States.  This  the  Methodists  in  the 
South  did,  for  the  most  part;  with  what  success  is  par- 
tially indicated  in  the  fact  that  in  1844  there  were  about 
125,000  of  these  sons  of  Ham  enrolled  as  members  of  the 
church  and  sons  of  God — a  larger  number  of  practically 
heathen  converts  than  all  the  missionary  societies  of 
America  had  gathered  upon  all  the  fields  of  the  heathen 
world.  So  that  while  the  portion  of  the  church  which 
operated  in  the  North  had  the  preponderance  in  num- 
bers, the  Southern  portion,  besides  having  gathered  a 
membership  of  350,000  whites,  had,  with  infinite  and  un- 
recorded patience  and  toil,  reached  and  Christianized  a 


l.MRODUCTION. 


3 


practically  heathen  population  of  over  100,000  souls.  On 
the  whole,  then,  it  was  about  an  even  stand,  and  neither 
portion  could  boast  of  any  great  superiority  over  the 
other.  Neither  had  made  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  without  the  other :  neither  was  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  without  the  other. 

There  came  a  time,  however,  when,  for  reasons  suffi- 
cient and  irresistible,  in  their  opinion,  the  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  South  thought  that, 
in  view  of  the  condition  of  affairs  which  had  arisen,  they 
could  best  conduct  their  work  and  operate  their  field 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  separate  General  Conference. 
To  this  the  representatives  of  all  the  Annual  Conferences 
of  the  undivided  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  General 
Conference  assembled,  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1844, 
agreed,  by  a  majority  little  less  than  unanimous;  and  for 
this  they  made  provision  in  what  is  known  as  the  Plan  of 
Separation,  conditioned  upon  the  necessity  of  a  separate 
General  Conference,  that  necessity  to  be  determined  by 
the  Annual  Conferences  of  the  Southern  States. 

In  accordance  with  this  plan  of  separation,  the  Method- 
jst  Episcopal  Church,  South,  consisting  of  all  the  Annual 
Conferences  in  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  States, 
was  organized  as  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  in 
the  month  of  May  in  the  year  1845.  As  to  the  cause  or 
causes  of  this  event,  we  shall  be  better  able  to  decide 
after  tracing  the  history  of  the  events  that  led  to  it.  It 
is  enough,  at  present,  to  say  that  it  was  in  connection  with 
the  problems  arising  out  of  the  existence  of  African  slav- 
ery and  its  relations  to  church  and  state. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  recite  here  the  facts,  that  slavery 
existed  at  one  time  in  all  the  original  colonies  of  the 
American  Union;  that  the  business  enterprise  of  New 
England,  as  well  as  that  of  old  England,  was  active  in 


4 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  l 


supplying  African  slaves  for  American  markets;  and  that 
originally  it  was  chiefly  the  accidents  of  climate  and  cot- 
ton and  rice  and  sugar,  and  not  the  superior  morality  of 
the  people  of  other  sections,  that  determined  the  prepon- 
derance of  numbers  and  the  permanence  of  slavery  in  the 
South.  "  In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  the  system 
of  slave-labor  was  gradually  abolished,  being  unprofit- 
able," says  a  Northern  and  a  Methodist  historian  of  the 
United  States.1 

Says  another :  "  Slavery  was  unprofitable  in  the  North- 
ern States,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  opinions  and 
sentiments  of  the  best  people  were  arrayed  against  it.  If 
it  had  been  profitable  in  the  North,  the  people  there,  ac- 
cording to  the  infirmity  of  our  nature,  might  possibly  have 
remained  unconvinced  of  its  evils." 

It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  at  the  time  when  our  history 
begins,  slavery  had  gravitated  to  the  South,  and  was,  for 
the  most  part,  confined  to  the  South ;  although,  in  the 
beginning,  some  of  the  Southern  colonies  had  opposed 
and  resisted  the  introduction  of  the  abomination.  The 
colonial  legislature  of  Virginia,  for  example,  in  1 726 
undertook  to  check  the  importation  of  slaves  by  imposing 
a  heavy  tax  on  the  traffic ;  but  the  British  Government 
repealed  this  law,  and,  as  Madison  afterward  said,  "  con- 
stantly baffled  the  attempts  of  Virginia  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  infernal  traffic,  for  the  avowed  reason  that  '  the  slave- 
trade  was  very  advantageous  to  Great  Britain.'  "  2 

The  colony  of  Georgia,  also,  the  year  after  it  was  char- 
tered (1734),  forbade  by  express  law  the  introduction  of 
slavery,  and  it  was  not  until  George  Whitefield,  co-founder 

1  Ridpath's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  487. 

2  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle,"  p.  29. 

Note. — From  1699  to  1772  twenty-three  acts  were  passed  to  arrest  or 
prohibit  the  further  introduction  of  slaves,  but  all  were  disregarded  by  the 
King  of  Great  Britain. — Minor's  "  Institutes,"  p.  164. 


THE  SITUATION  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


5 


with  Wesley  of  Methodism,  went  from  Georgia  to  England 
and  persuaded  the  trustees  of  the  colony  to  allow  it,  that 
slavery  was  introduced  (1751).  He  is  reported  to  have 
said,  "  I  should  think  myself  highly  favored  if  I  could  pur- 
chase a  good  number  of  slaves,  in  order  to  make  their  lives 
comfortable  and  lay  a  foundation  for  bringing  up  their 
posterity  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 

Twenty  years  afterward  he  died,  leaving  seventy-five 
slaves  in  connection  with  his  Orphan  House  plantation  in 
Georgia.  For  without  repealing  the  law  of  1734,  the 
colony  had  from  1 75 1  allowed  slave-traders  to  sail  to 
Savannah  and  sell  their  heathen  victims  to  the  highest 
bidder.  A  slight  resistance  was  kept  up  by  the  Mora- 
vians, but  even  they  finally  yielded  to  the  conviction  that 
African  slaves  might  be  employed  in  a  Christian  spirit, 
and  that  their  treatment  in  a  Christian  manner  might 
prove  their  change  of  country  to  be  a  great  benefit  to 
them.  This  view  was  encouraged  by  a  message  from 
the  Moravians  of  the  fatherland,  which  declared,  "  If  you 
take  slaves  in  faith  with  the  intention  to  conduct  them  to 
Christ,  the  action  will  not  be  a  sin,  but  may  prove  a  bless- 
ing." 1  Possibly  this  view  of  the  Moravians  of  Germany 
was,  in  some  measure,  due  to  the  influence  of  the  words  of 
the  great  Reformer,  Martin  Luther,  who  wrote  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  "  He  that  says  that  slavery  is  opposed  to 
Christianity  is  a  liar."  Sanctioned  by  such  examples  and 
defended  with  such  plausible  arguments,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that,  little  by  little,  the  people  laid  aside  their  scruples 
and  finally  adopted  the  system.  In  fact,  it  seemed  equal 
to  the  liberation  of  slaves  for  kind  masters  to  purchase 
them  from  heartless  and  cruel  slave-traders. 

When  Methodism  came  upon  the  scene,  about  1766, 
under  Robert  Strawbridge  in  Maryland  and  Philip  Em- 

1  Matlack's  "Antislavery  Struggle,"  pp.  30,  31. 


6 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  i. 


bury  in  New  York,  slavery  was  already  established  and 
in  vogue  from  Massachusetts  to  South  Carolina,  but  par- 
ticularly in  the  South;  and  as  Wesley  had  borne  strong 
testimony  against  it  in  England,  so  did  Asbury,  Garrett- 
son,  and  others  in  America  But  it  was  not  until  the 
meeting  of  the  conference  at  Baltimore  in  I  780  that  con- 
ference action  was  taken  on  the  subject.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary, at  this  point,  to  give  a  brief  survey  of  the  course  of 
legislation  on  the  subject  of  slaveholding,  so  as  better  to 
understand  the  situation  at  the  critical  period,  in  1844. 
Up  to  1  780  there  was  no  written  rule  on  the  practice  of 
slaveholding.  The  following  questions,  propounded  and 
recorded  at  that  conference,  will  show  that  at  that  time 
slaves  were  held  by  Methodists,  and  even  by  Methodist 
preachers : 

Question.  Ought  this  conference  to  require  those  traveling  preachers  who 
hold  slaves  to  give  promises  to  set  them  free? 
Answer.  Yes. 

Question.  Do  we  pass  our  disapprobation  on  all  our  preachers  who  keep 
slaves  and  advise  their  freedom? 
Answer.  Yes. 

At  the  famous  Christmas  Conference  held  in  Lovely 
Lane  Chapel  in  Baltimore  in  1784,  at  and  by  which  the 
organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Amer- 
ica was  effected,  a  general  rule,  in  addition  to  those  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Wesley  for  the  societies  in  England  in  1743, 
was  adopted,  prohibiting  "  the  buying  or  selling  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men,  women,  or  children  with  the  intention 
of  enslaving  them." 

Other  special  rules  were  also  adopted  at  this  conference, 
"designed  to  extirpate  this  abomination  from  among  us." 
These  rules  were  the  most  rigid  that  were  ever  enacted 
by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church  in 
America.  They  indicate  the  high-water  mark  of  confer- 
ence legislation  against  slavery.    They  were  found,  how- 


EARLY  LEGISLATION. 


7 


ever,  to  be  too  rigid ;  and  the  Discipline  of  1 786  marks 
the  beginning  of  a  recessive  movement.  If,  from  the 
beginning,  non-slaveholding  had  been  made  a  rigid  con- 
dition of  entrance  into  the  Methodist  Church,  that  might 
have  worked,  and  all  the  after  trouble  might  have  been 
avoided.  But  this  was  not  done.  Slaveholders  had  been 
admitted — when  and  where  and  how  it  may  not  now  be 
possible  to  say — but  the  sensitive  and  excited  tone  of  the 
legislation  on  the  subject  all  through  this  period  indicates 
that  the  church  had  considerable  and  increasing  num- 
bers of  slaveholders.  An  attempt  was  made  at  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1800  to  pass  a  resolution  prohibit- 
ing thereafter  the  admission  of  a  slaveholder.  "  Friday 
morning,  May  16th,  Brother  Snethen  moved  that  this 
General  Conference  do  resolve  that  from  this  time  no 
slaveholder  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church ;"  but  it  seemed  now  too  late  to  adopt  such 
a  rule,  for  it  was  "  negatived."  1  Not  only  so,  but  another 
rule  was  enacted,  "  That  all  slaveholders  asking  admission 
as  members  must  be  spoken  to  freely  and  faithfully  by  the 
preacher  on  the  subject  of  slavery."  These  two  actions 
revealed  the  vacillation  of  the  church  and  the  General 
Conference  on  the  subject  of  slaveholding.  They  were 
hesitating  over  the  question, 

.  .  .  Shall  we  shut  the  door 
And  keep  it  out?  or  shall  we  let  it  in 
And  see  if  we  can  get  it  out  again? 

Moreover,  the  subject  now  began  to  be  complicated 
with  civil  legislation.  Already  in  the  General  Conference 
of  1800  we  begin  to  meet  with  clauses  that  become  very 
familiar  in  later  legislation :  "  Whereas  the  laws  in  two  or 
more  of  the  United  States  pointedly  prohibit  the  emanci- 
pation of  slaves;"  and  again,  "shall  execute,  if  it  be 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1800,"  p.  40. 


8 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  i. 


practicable,  a  legal  emancipation  of  such  slave  or  slaves, 
agreeably  to  the  laws  of  the  State  wherein  they  live."1 

As  they  had  failed  to  make  non-slaveholding  a  con- 
dition of  membership  from  the  beginning;  and  as,  when 
fully  awakened  afterward  to  the  nature  and  meaning  of 
slavery,  they  had  even  then  definitely  refused  to  introduce 
non-slaveholding  as  a  condition  of  membership,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  made  implicit  provision  for  the  continued 
admission  of  slaveholders  on  condition  of  a  talk  to  the 
candidate  by  the  preacher;  and  as  conference  legislation 
was  becoming  more  difficult  and  unmanageable  by  reason 
of  its  embarrassing  complications  with  State  legislation — 
they  found  it  necessary  to  abandon  their  untenable  posi- 
tion, to  make  further  concessions,  and  to  put  themselves 
in  line  with  the  laws  of  the  slaveholding  States  and  the 
crystallizing  public  opinion  of  the  people  in  those  States, 
or  else  they  would  have  practically  to  abandon  them. 
Hence  there  is  a  tone  of  increasing  moderation  in  the 
legislation  of  the  General  Conference  down  to  1816,  when 
the  law  known  as  the  "  Compromise  Law"  of  the  church 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  was  passed.  The  action  of  that 
conference  is  as  follows : 

Your  committee  find  that  in  the  South  and  West  the  civil  authorities  ren- 
der emancipation  impracticable,  and  they  are  constrained  to  admit  that  to 
bring  about  such  a  change  in-  the  civil  code  as  would  favor  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty is  not  in  the  power  of  the  General  Conference.  They  beg  leave  to  sub- 
mit the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  no  slaveholder  shall  be  eligible  to  any  official  station  in  our 
church  where  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives  will  admit  of  emancipa-" 
tion  and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom.2 

After  1 8 16  there  was  practically  no  change  in  the  legis- 
lation of  the  General  Conference  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
until  the  session  of  1836;  but  an  event  occurred  at  the 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1800,"  pp.  37,  44. 

2  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1816,"  p.  170. 


CASE  OF  MR.  CAPERS. 


9 


General  Conference  of  1828  which  showed  that  the  mod- 
erate and  conciliatory  view  of  the  question  had  been 
accepted  and  was  generally  held.  At  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1824  that  body  instructed  the  bishops  to  choose 
and  appoint  a  representative  and  send  him  to  the  British 
Conference  at  its  session  in  1826.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
bishops  held  in  Baltimore  in  April,  1826,  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  and  Bishop  Soule  had  favored  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Capers,  of  South  Carolina,  while  Bishops  George  and 
Hedding  gave  their  support  to  the  great  Dr.  Wilbur  Fisk. 
The  ground  of  their  objection  to  Mr.  Capers  was  that  he 
was  a  slaveholder.  This  difference  of  opinion  led  to  a 
postponement  of  the  matter  till  the  General  Conference  of 
1828,  when  the  subject  was  formally  brought  up  in  the 
address  of  the  bishops.  The  General  Conference  indorsed 
the  preference  of  Bishops  McKendree  and  Soule,  and 
elected  Mr.  Capers  over  Dr.  Fisk,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  slaveholder.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
add  that  Mr.  Capers  was  received  by  the  British  Confer- 
ence with  cordiality  and  enthusiasm ;  and  they 

Resolved,  I.  That  the  cordial  thanks  of  this  conference  are  due  to  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America  for  the 
appointment  of  their  excellent  representative,  Mr.  Capers,  whose  amiable 
manners,  devout  spirit,  and  acceptable  ministry  have  greatly  endeared  him 
to  the  preachers  now  assembled,  and  have  confirmed  their  feelings  of  respect 
and  attachment  toward  their  American  brethren  at  large. 

2.  That  the  warmest  thanks  of  the  conference  are  hereby  presented  to 
Mr.  Capers  for  the  great  ability,  Christian  spirit,  and  brotherly  kindness  with 
which  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  his  honorable  mission,  and  that  their 
most  fervent  prayers  will  attend  him  on  his  return  to  his  native  country.1 

The  journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1836  records 
a  remarkable  action.     It  is  as  follows : 

Whereas  great  excitement  has  prevailed  in  this  country  on  the  subject  of 
modern  abolitionism,  etc., 

Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  Annual  Conferences  in  General  Confer- 

1  "  Life  of  Bishop  Capers,"  p.  258. 


10 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  i. 


cnce  assembled,  That  they  are  decidedly  opposed  to  modern  abolitionism, 
and  wholly  disclaim  any  right,  wish,  or  intention  to  interfere  in  the  civil  and 
political  relation  between  master  and  slave  as  it  exists  in  the  slaveholding 
States  of  this  Union.1 

One  hundred  and  thirty-seven  voted  in  favor  of  this 
resolution,  and  "  none  in  the  opposition." 

The  great  excitement  referred  to  in  the  preamble  was 
an  effect  of  the  organization  and  operation  of  the  New 
England  Antislavery  Society,  begun  in  1832,  and  the 
American  Antislavery  Society,  organized  in  1833.  These 
societies  took  extreme  positions  and  precipitated  wide- 
spread agitation. 

In  1835  the  New  England  and  New  Hampshire  confer- 
ences organized  Antislavery  Societies,  and  an  "  Appeal  " 
was  issued,  signed  by  La  Roy  Sunderland  and  others,  and 
addressed  to  these  two  conferences.  In  the  same  year 
appeared  a  "  Counter- Appeal,"  written  by  D.  D.  Whedon 
and  signed  by  Wilbur  Fisk,  Abel  Stevens,  Bishop  Elijah 
Hedding,  and  others.  The  signers  of  this  counter-appeal 
replied  to  the  position  taken  in  the  appeal,  that  "  no 
slaveholder  is  truly  awakened,  and  that  no  slaveholder 
can  rightly  be  permitted  a  place  in  the  Christian  Church," 
by  saying : 

That  in  the  primitive  church  at  Colosse,  under  the  apostolic  eye  and  with 
the  apostolic  sanction,  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  was  permitted  to  sub- 
sist ;  that  there  were  already  such  in  the  church  of  Ephesus  ;  that  the  New 
Testament  (in  Ephesians  vi.  5-9  and  elsewhere)  enjoins  obedience  on  the 
slave  as  an  obligation  due  to  a  present,  rightful  authority;  that  I  Timothy  vi. 
I,  2,  presents  an  impregnable  demonstration  that  slaveholding  is  not  in  all 
cases  and  invariably  sinful ;  that  we  may  not  say  that  no  slaveholder  is  truly 
awakened  ;  and  that  it  does  not  of  itself  form  a  ground  of  exclusion  from  the 
Christian  Church.2 

The  counter-appeal  maintained  also  that  the  Bible  is 
opposed  to  slavery  as  a  system,  and  disclaimed  all  pur- 

1  "  Tournal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1836,"  pp.  446,  447. 

2  Matlack,  pp.  87,  88. 


BISHOPS1  ADDRESS,  IS40. 


pose  of  defending  the  system.  What  it  opposed  was  the 
position  that  all  slaveholding  is  sinful  and  therefore  should 
be  universally  and  immediately  abandoned. 

The  address  of  the  bishops  at  the  General  Conference 
of  1840  is  a  notable  document.  It  presents  a  calm  sur- 
vey of  the  situation,  takes  broad  views  of  the  jurisdictional 
questions  involved,  and  counsels  moderation  and  justice 
in  and  toward  all  sections  of  the  church.  Among  other 
things  they  say : 

They  have  no  disposition  to  criminate  their  brethren  in  the  South  who  are 
tinavoidably  connected  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  or  to  separate  from 
them  on  that  account.  In  all  enactments  of  the  church  relating  to  slavery  a 
due  and  respectful  regard  has  been  had  to  the  laws  of  the  States,  never  re- 
quiring emancipation  in  contravention  of  civil  authority,  or  where  the  laws  of 
the  State  would  not  allow  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  his  freedom.  The  simple 
holding  or  owning  of  slaves,  without  regard  to  circumstances,  has  at  no  period 
of  the  existence  of  the  church  subjected  the  master  to  excommunication.1 

In  the  reply  of  the  bishops  to  the  fraternal  address  of 
the  British  Conference,  which  contained  references  to  the 
subject  of  slavery,  they  say : 

In  some  of  our  States  slavery  exists  so  universally  and  is  so  closely  inter- 
woven with  their  civil  institutions,  that  both  do  the  laws  disallow  of  emanci- 
pation and  the  great  body  of  the  people  (the  source  of  laws  with  us)  hold  it 
to  be  treasonable  to  set  forth  anything  by  word  or  deed  tending  that  way. 
Our  church  is  extended  through  all  the  States,  and  as  it  would  be  wrong  and 
unscriptural  to  enact  a  rule  of  discipline  in  opposition  to  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  State  on  the  subject,  so  also  is  it  not  equitable  or  Scriptural  to 
confound  the  position  of  our  ministers  and  people  (so  different  as  they  are  in 
different  States)  with  respect  to  the  moral  question  which  slavery  involves. 
Under  the  administration  of  the  venerated  Dr.  Coke  this  plain  distinction 
was  once  overlooked,  and  it  was  attempted  to  urge  emancipation  in  all  the 
States ;  but  the  attempt  proved  almost  ruinous,  and  was  soon  abandoned  by 
the  doctor  himself.  Methodism  has  always  been,  except  in  this  single  in- 
stance, eminently  loyal  and  promotive  of  good  order,  and  so  we  desire  it 
may  ever  continue  to  be  both  in  Europe  and  America.  We  conclude  the 
subject  with  the  corroborating  language  of  your  noble  missionary  society,  by 
the  revered  and  lamented  Richard  Watson,  in  their  instructions  to  mission- 
aries published  in  the  report  of  1833,  as  follows  : 


1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1840,"  pp.  135,  136. 


12  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  i. 

"As  in  the  colonies  in  which  you  are  called  to  labor,  a  great  proportion  of 
the  inhabitants  are  in  a  state  of  slavery,  the  committee  most  strongly  call  to 
your  remembrance  what  was  so  fully  stated  to  you  when  you  were  accepted 
as  missionaries  to  the  West  Indies — that  your  only  business  is  to  promote 
the  moral  and  religious  improvement  of  the  slaves  to  whom  you  may  have 
access,  without  in  the  least  degree,  in  public  or  private,  interfering  with  their 
civil  condition." 

(Signed)    R.  R.  Roberts, 
Joshua  Solt.e, 
Elijah  Hedding, 
Jas.  O.  Andrew, 
Beverly  Waugh, 
Thos.  A.  Morris,  i 

At  this  same  General  Conference  of  1840  a  memorial 
was  presented  from  the  official  members  of  the  West- 
moreland Circuit,  in  Virginia,  complaining  that,  while  geo- 
graphically they  were  subject  to  State  laws  under  which 
emancipation  could  not  take  place,  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, to  whose  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  they  belonged, 
refused  to  elect  certain  of  their  local  preachers  to  orders  or 
to  admit  them  into  the  traveling  connection,  because  they 
were  slaveholders.  The  conclusion  of  the  report  on  the 
subject  adopted  by  the  conference  is  as  follows : 

In  conclusion,  your  committee  would  express  the  deliberate  opinion  that 
while  the  general  rule  on  the  subject  of  slavery  relating  to  those  States  whose 
laws  admit  emancipation  and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom, 
should  be  firmly  and  constantly  enforced,  the  exception  to  the  general  rule, 
applying  to  those  States  where  emancipation  is  not  practicable,  should  be 
recognized  with  equal  firmness  and  impartiality.  Therefore, 

Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Conferences  in  General 
Conference  assembled,  That,  under  the  provisional  exception  of  the  general 
rule  of  the  church  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  the  simple  holding  of  slaves  or 
mere  ownership  of  slave-property  in  States  or  Territories  where  the  laws  do 
not  admit  of  emancipation  and  permit  the  liberated  slaves  to  enjoy  freedom, 
constitutes  no  legal  barrier  to  the  election  or  ordination  of  ministers  to  the 
various  grades  of  office  known  in  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  cannot  therefore  be  considered  as  operating  any  forfeiture  of 
right  in  view  of  such  election  and  ordination. 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1840,"  p.  155. 


WITHDRAWAL  OF  THE  WESLEYANS. 


13 


The  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1 840  marks  the 
furthest  limit  of  concession  to  the  views  and  sentiments  of 
the  Southern  section  of  the  church.  It  was  more  than 
the  abolition  wing  of  the  church  could  stand.  They  pre- 
pared to  secede,  and  in  1842-43  they  did  secede;  and  at 
a  convention  held  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  in  May,  1843,  tnev  or- 
ganized the  Wesley  an  Methodist  Church  of  America,  with 
non-slaveholding  as  a  condition  of  membership.  Within 
about  a  year  and  a  half  they  had  enrolled  a  total  mem- 
bership of  fifteen  thousand.  This  secession  produced  a 
reaction.  A  great  awakening  occurred  in  the  church 
generally,  resulting  in  some  localities  in  Methodist  con- 
ventions. One  of  these  declared  that  "  slaveholding  is 
sin,"  and  that  "  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  re- 
sponsible for  slavery  in  its  pale."  Another  one  declared 
that  "  the  only  way  to  prevent  an  entire  dissolution  among 
us,  as  a  church,  is  an  entire  separation  from  the  South."  1 

Prior  to  1843  no  Annual  Conference  was  allowed  to  say 
that  all  slaveholding  was  sin.  Subsequently  no  form  of 
-expression  was  objected  to  by  the  presiding  officer  of  an 
Annual  Conference.  Dr.  Whedon,  in  the  "  Quarterly 
Review"  for  October,  1865,  says:  "The  secession  of  the 
Wesleyans,  as  we  believe,  saved  our  church  in  1844  from 
accepting  a  slaveholding  bishop."  It  was  the  opinion  of 
Bishop  Thompson,  expressed  in  1866,  that  the  WTesleyans 
by  withdrawing  •  from  the  church  in  1843  constrained  a 
development  of  antislavery  activity  in  the  church,  which 
they  could  not  have  accomplished  by  remaining  in  it. 
This  reaction  was  shown  in  the  vigorous  controversy 
which  was  at  that  period  carried  on  in  the  Methodist 
journals  of  the  time,  North  and  South. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  legislation  in  the  General  Con- 
ferences of  1836  and  1840,  the  defeat  of  the  abolition 

1  Matlack,  p.  152. 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  i. 


party  and  their  subsequent  secession  from  the  church, 
gave  the  supporters  of  the  Southern  view  increasing  con- 
fidence in  their  position.  So  that  while  the  secession  of 
the  Wesleyans  seemed,  at  the  time,  to  afford  "  general  re- 
lief," and  did  afford  temporary  relief,  yet  in  fact  and  in 
the  end  it  had  the  effect  to  reawaken  the  convictions  of 
the  one  side  and  to  strengthen  those  of  the  other.  The 
crisis  was  approaching,  and  soon  came.  All  the  altera- 
tions of  the  rule,  modifications  of  method,  attempts  at 
reconciliation,  had  brought  the  two  parts  of  the  church  no 
nearer  together.  On  the  contrary,  all  their  experiments 
and  efforts,  all  the  demands  of  the  one  side  and  all  the  con- 
cessions of  the  other,  all  the  actions  and  reactions,  showed 
that  the  question  was  utterly  unmanageable,  and  that  they 
were  in  reality  wider  apart  than  ever  before.  It  seems 
amazing  to  us  that  the  men  of  '44,  on  both  sides,  did  not 
see  that  it  was  simply  impossible  to  reconcile  the  differ- 
ences and  perpetuate  the  union,  and  that  the  best  thing 
would  have  been  to  make  a  friendly  division  of  the  church 
and  let  each  section  work  its  own  territory,  pursue  its  own 
methods,  and  manage  its  own  problems.  An  enforced 
and  irritating  union  is  incomparably  worse  than  a  friendly 
separation.  So  it  appeared  even  to  some  of  the  apostles 
(compare  Gal.  ii.  9  and  Acts  xv.  39).  An  opportunity  for 
a  peaceable  separation  came  in  the  General  Conference  of 
1844- 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF   1 844. 

WITHOUT  the  preliminary  review  given  in  the  fore- 
going chapter,  outlining  the  course  of  events  preceding  the 
General  Conference  of  1844,  it  would  be  difficult  to  under- 
stand the  situation  or  to  comprehend  the  action  of  that 
historic  body.  There  were  forebodings  of  evil  in  the 
hearts  of  both  Northern  and  Southern  delegates  as  they 
assembled  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  flowery  month 
of  May,  to  attend  the  ninth  delegated  General  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  in  the  air  were 
the  whispered  fears  of  an  impending  conflict.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference  was  composed  of  the  best  men  of  all  sec- 
tions, men  of  really  great  abilities,  profound  convictions, 
deep  piety,  and  devotion  to  the  church.  The  radicals 
.had  gone  off  in  1843.  The  leaders  of  1844  were,  for  the 
most  part,  conservatives.  There  were  Soule  and  Hedding 
and  Bangs  and  Olin  and  Morris  and  the  Pecks  and  Durbin 
and  Hamline  and  Porter  and  Collins  and  Thompson  and 
Ames  and  Simpson  and  Cartwright  and  Scott ;  there  were 
the  Pierces  and  Capers  and  Paine  and  McFerrin  and  Green 
and  Bascom  and  Kavanaugh  and  Winans  and  Smith  and 
Andrew  and  Hamilton  and  Wightman  and  Early.  No  less 
than  thirteen  of  the  delegates  to  that  memorable  body 
afterward  became  bishops — six  in  the  Northern  Church 
and  seven  in  the  Southern. 

Early  in  the  session  the  appeal  of  F.  A.  Harding,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  was  taken  up.  He  had 
married  a  lady  who  owned  a  family  of  slaves.    At  the 

15 


i6 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  el 


next  session  of  the  conference  he  was  required  by  that 
body  to  free  those  slaves.  Failing  to  comply,  he  was 
suspended  till  the  next  Annual  Conference,  or  "  until  he 
gives  assurance  that  he  has  taken  the  necessary  steps  to 
secure  their  freedom."  It  appeared  in  evidence  that  by 
the  laws  of  Maryland  the  title  and  ownership  inhered  in 
his  wife,  and  that  a  slave  could  not  be  emancipated  and 
enjoy  liberty  in  the  State.  It  was  claimed  that  his  case 
was  covered  by  the  law,  and  appeal  was  made  that  the 
sentence  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  be  reversed.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained,  that  no  slaveholder 
had  ever  been  a  member  of  the  Baltimore  Conference; 
that  the  offending  man  knew  this  when  he  entered  it,  and 
had  the  fact  before  him  when  he  married ;  that  this  usage 
of  the  conference  had  been  insisted  upon  in  the  case  of 
others ;  that,  notwithstanding  the  stringency  of  the  State 
law,  slaves  had  often  been  manumitted  and  remained  undis- 
turbed in  the  State  ;  and  as  for  the  title,  it  was  assumed  that 
he  could  persuade  his  wife  to  join  him  in  the  act  of  manu- 
mission.1 When  the  vote  was  taken,  the  motion  to  reverse 
the  decision  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  was  lost,  fifty- 
six  voting  for  and  one  hundred  and  seventeen  against  it. 
To  the  Southern  members  this  seemed  to  be  requiring 
compliance  with  the  usage  of  the  conference  in  viola- 
tion of  civil  law,  or,  as  they  afterward  expressed  it,  "  en- 
joining a  violation  of  civil  law  as  a  moral  duty;"  and  this 
case  might  probably  have  precipitated  the  division  of  the 
church  but  for  a  graver  case  of  similar  character  which 
was  yet  to  be  disposed  of,  namely,  that  of  one  of  the 
bishops,  who  also  had  come  into  the  possession  of  slaves 
by  inheritance  and  marriage.  The  good  men  of  both 
sides  saw  and  felt  what  was  coming,  yet  they  tried  to 
avert  it — to  avert  the  inevitable.     On  Tuesday,  May 

1  McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  620. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  PACIFICATION. 


17 


14th,  Dr.  Capers,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Dr.  Olin,  of  Con- 
necticut, offered  jointly  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that : 

In  view  of  the  distracting  agitation  which  has  so  long  prevailed  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  abolition,  and  especially  in  view  of  the  difficulty  under 
which  we  labor  in  the  present  General  Conference,  a  committee  of  six  be  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  the  bishops  as  to  the  possibility  of  adopting  some  plan, 
and  what,  for  the  permanent  pacification  of  the  Church.1 

Dr.  Olin,  though  supporting  this  resolution,  gave  utter- 
ance to  the  conviction  which  has  already  been  expressed 
in  these  pages,  that  further  concession  from  either  side 
was  not  to  be  expected,  could  not  be  asked;  the  differ- 
ences were  too  deep  to  be  healed ;  harmony  and  continued 
union  were  no  longer  possible.  This  great-souled  son  of 
New  England  and  South  Carolina,  "  speaking  under  the 
most  powerful  emotion  and  in  a  strain  of  tenderness  that 
moved  every  member  of  the  conference,"  said : 

It  appears  to  me  that  we  stand  committed  on  this  question  by  our  prin- 
ciples and  views  of  policy,  and  that  neither  of  us  dare  move  a  step  from 
our  position.  I  confess  I  turn  away  from  the  controversy  with  sorrow,  and 
a  deep  feeling  of  apprehension  that  the  difficulties  that  are  upon  us  now 
threaten  to  be  unmanageable.  I  will  take  it  upon  me  to  say  freely  that  I  do 
not  see  how  Northern  men  can  yield  their  ground,  or  Southern  men  give  up 
theirs.  I  do  indeed  believe  that  if  our  affairs  remain  in  their  present  position 
and  this  General  Conference  do  not  speak  out  clearly  and  distinctly  on  the 
subject,  however  unpalatable  it  may  be,  we  cannot  go  home  under  this  dis- 
tracting question  without  a  certainty  of  breaking  up  our  conferences.  I  look 
to  this  measure  with  desire  rather  than  with  hope.  With  regard  to  our 
Southern  brethren — and  I  hold  that  on  this  question,  at  least,  I  may  speak 
with  some  confidence — if  they  concede  what  the  Northern  brethren  wish,  if 
they  concede  that  holding  slaves  is  incompatible  with  holding  their  ministry, 
they  may  as  well  go  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  to  their  own  sunny  plains. 
The  people  would  not  bear  it.  They  feel  shut  up  to  their  principles  on  this 
point.  I  believe  there  is  not  a  man  among  them  that  would  not  make  every 
sacrifice,  and  even  die,  if  thereby  he  could  heal  this  division.  But  if  our  dif- 
ficulties are  unmanageable,  let  our  spirit  be  right.    I  see  no  way  of  escape.2 

And  Dr.  Olin  was  right.  After  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  and  four  days  of  deliberation,  the  committee  re- 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,"  p.  43. 

2  "  Debates  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,"  p.  55. 


1 8 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  ii. 


ported  on  May  1 8th  that,  "after  a  calm  and  deliberate 
investigation  of  the  subject  submitted  to  their  considera- 
tion, they  are  unable  to  agree  upon  any  plan  of  compro- 
mise to  reconcile  the  views  of  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Conferences."  1 

On  Monday,  May  20th,  the  subject  which  was  so 
much  dreaded,  but  which  would  not  and  could  not  be 
let  alone,  was  brought  up,  and  a  resolution  was  adopted 
instructing  the  committee  on  episcopacy  to  ascertain  the 
facts  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  and  report  the  re- 
sults of  their  investigation  to  the  conference  on  the  next 
day. 

On  Tuesday,  May  2ist,  the  committee  presented  their 
report,  embodying  a  statement  by  Bishop  Andrew  himself 
concerning  his  connection  with  slavery :  Several  years  be- 
fore, an  old  lady  had  bequeathed  to  him  a  girl  in  trust, 
to  be  taken  care  of  until  she  was  nineteen  years  old. 
Then,  with  her  consent,  she  was  to  be  sent  to  Liberia ;  or, 
in  case  of  her  refusal  to  go,  she  was  to  be  made  as  free  as 
the  laws  of  Georgia  would  permit.  She  refused  to  go  to 
Liberia.  He  derived,  however,  no  pecuniary  advantage 
from  her,  and  she  was  at  liberty  to  go  to  a  free  State  at 
her  pleasure,  but  the  laws  of  Georgia  would  not  permit 
her  emancipation  there.  In  that  case  he  was  a  slave- 
holder without  his  consent. 

Secondly.  The  mother  of  Bishop  Andrew's  first  wife 
left  to  her  a  negro  boy.  His  wife  died  without  a  will,  and 
by  the  laws  of  Georgia  the  boy  became  Bishop  Andrew's 
property ;  but  emancipation,  as  in  the  other  case,  was  im- 
practicable. However,  the  bishop  declared  he  should  be 
at  liberty  to  leave  the  State  whenever  he  was  satisfied 
that  the  boy  could  either  provide  for  himself  or  would  be 
provided  for  by  others. 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  1844,"  p.  54. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  BISHOP  ANDREW. 


19 


Thirdly.  A  few  months  previous,  he  had  married  a 
lady  possessed  of  slaves.  Shortly  after  his  marriage, 
being  unwilling  to  become  their  owner  himself,  he  had 
secured  them  to  her  by  a  deed  of  trust.  Consequently, 
he  disclaimed  any  legal  responsibility  in  the  premises,  but 
declared  that  his  wife  was  unable  to  emancipate  them  in 
Georgia,  even  if  she  desired  to  do  so. 

It  was  true,  then,  that  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  church 
had  become  a  slaveholder,  though  certainly  under  very 
peculiar  circumstances.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  tremen- 
dous matter.  The  personal  character  of  Bishop  James  O. 
Andrew  was  above  reproach  and  above  suspicion.  Dur- 
ing all  those  terrible  ten  days  when  the  searching  gaze  of 
the  General  Conference,  of  the  whole  church,  and,  indeed, 
of  the  nation,  was  focused  upon  him,  no  flaw  was  found 
in  him ;  amid  the  feverish  excitement  of  that  high  debate 
no  railing  accusation  was  brought  against  him.1  One  who 
reads  his  biography  will  find  that  his  private  life  was  one 
of  exceptional  character.  His  piety  was  genuine  and  deep 
and  fervent,  his  humility  was  extraordinary,  his  self-sacri- 
ficing devotion  to  the  gospel  and  the  church  was  apostolic, 
his  interest  in  the  black  people  was  zealous  and  ceaseless, 
his  tenderness  to  his  slaves  was  parental,  his  family  life  was 
even  beautiful.  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  I  began 
his  biography  with  a  prejudice  against  him;  I  finished  it 
with  the  estimate  and  impression  just  given.  The  great 
Dr.  Olin,  also,  who  was  for  a  time  an  inmate  of  his  house 
and  a  member  of  his  family,  bears  similar  testimony  to  the 
character  of  Bishop  Andrew.  And  yet  Bishop  Andrew 
was  a  slaveholder.  This,  however,  was  no  more  against 
him,  per  se,  and  apart  from  his  official  relation  to  the 
church,  than  the  same  fact  was  against  Dr.  Olin,  who  was 
himself  a  slaveholder  during  his  residence  in  the  South. 
1  See  the  "  Debates  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844." 


20 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  ii 


But  that  Bishop  Andrew  should,  in  view  of  the  history 
and  the  exciting  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  in  his 
church,  have  allowed  himself  in  any  way  to  become  con- 
nected with  slaveholding  after  he  was  made  a  bishop  in 
that  church,  seems  not  merely  "  an  indiscretion,"  but  a 
very  grave  and  grievous  error.  His  biographer,  an  in- 
tense Southerner,  says :  "  No  man  of  proper  feeling  will 
say  that  duty  required  him  to  marry  the  woman  he  did 
not  prefer  because  a  part  of  the  church  was  opposed  to  a 
slaveholding  bishop;  but  if  he  had  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  results  which  did  follow  would  have  followed,  the  mar- 
riage should  have  been  preceded  by  his  resignation."  If 
Bishop  Andrew  did  not  know  the  history  of  the  slavery 
agitation  in  the  church  and  country,  and  the  attitude  of 
the  two  sections  well  enough  to  have  reason  for  fearing 
that  his  marrying  a  slave-owner  would  occasion  serious 
trouble,  then  his  ignorance,  for  a  man  in  his  position,  was 
inexcusable.  If  he  did  know  these  things  and  was  indif- 
ferent to  them,  his  indifference  was  more  inexcusable.  In 
any  case,  his  position  in  1844  is  not  one  to  be  envied. 

While  all  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  true  that  the 
division  of  the  church  was  inevitable.  The  South,  and 
with  it  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  South,  was  inextri- 
cably though,  as  the  bishops  in  1840  said,  unavoidably 
involved  in  slavery ;  a  large  part  of  the  North,  and  with  it 
the  larger  part  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  North,  was 
becoming  more  and  more  committed  to  resistance ;  and  in 
the  action  of  1836  and  1 840  the  Northern  brethren  had 
made  the  very  last  concession  to  the  Southern,  and  a 
strong  reaction  had  already  set  in.  If  Bishop  Andrew's 
case  had  never  come  up,  some  other  question  or  case  like 
that  of  Mr.  Harding,  would  have  occasioned  and  precipi- 
tated the  separation  of  the  two  sections  of  the  church. 
And  yet  it  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  exceedingly  unfort- 


BIS  HOI'  A  A  rDRE  W>S  RESIGN  A  TI ON. 


2  I 


unate  that  the  blunder  of  a  good  and  great  and  honored 
man,  occupying  the  highest  position  the  church  could  be- 
stow, should  have  become  the  occasion  of  that  separation, 
and  that  his  character  and  good  name  should  be  jeopard- 
ized and  compromised,  and  with  it  that  of  his  church,  and 
thus  they  should  be  made  to  bear,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
the  blame  of  that  separation  which  was  probably  as  much 
due  to  one  side  as  to  the  other,  and  still  more  to  events 
and  processes  and  influences  which  neither  was  responsible 
for  and  neither  could  control. 

On  Wednesday,  May  22d,  a  resolution  requesting  Bishop 
Andrew  to  resign  was  offered  by  Alfred  Griffith  and  John 
Davis,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference.  If  Bishop  Andrew 
had  been  left  to  himself,  his  prompt  resignation  would 
have  anticipated  and  superseded  this  resolution,  or  any 
other  action  of  the  conference  in  his  case.  At  Baltimore, 
on  his  v/ay  to  the  conference,  he  had  learned  of  the  intense 
excitement  caused  by  the  report  that  one  of  the  bishops 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  a  slaveholder. 
Thereupon,  "  he  did  resolve  to  resign,  and  so  expressed 
himself,  both  in  Baltimore  and  New  York."  1 

On  May  14th  he  wrote  from  New  York  to  his  daughter 
as  follows : 

As  to  the  General  Conference,  thus  far  it  has  done  little  else  but  quarrel. 
Some  of  them  are  in  great  trouble  about  having  a  slaveholding  bishop,  and  I 
should  greatly  relieve  them  if  I  should  resign.  I  would  most  joyfully  resign, 
if  I  did  not  dread  the  influence  on  the  Southern  Church.  I  shall  therefore 
wait  patiently  a  while  longer.  The  clouds  are  dark,  but  God  is  in  the  whirl- 
wind and  guides  the  storm.2 

On  May  16th  he  wrote  to  his  wife: 

The  entire  delegation  from  the  twelve  slaveholding  conferences  has  met, 
and,  through  a  committee,  have  earnestly  protested  against  my  resignation 
under  any  circumstances,  as  inevitably  destructive  to  the  Southern  Church ; 

1  "  Life  of  Bishop  Andrew,"  p.  340. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  355. 


22  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  ii. 


and  for  the  sake  of  that  church  I  am  resolved  to  maintain  my  position  and 
await  the  issue.  0  my  own  dear  sweet  home!  the  sweetest  spot  on  this 
green  earth !  how  gladly  would  I  spend  the  balance  of  my  life  in  your  soci- 
ety !    But  we  must  trust  God  and  obey  him. 

James  O.  Andrew. 

The  action  of  the  Southern  delegates,  referred  to  by 
Bishop  Andrew,  is  as  follows : 

Whereas  Bishop  Andrew  has  signified  to  the  delegates  of  the  conferences 
in  the  slaveholding  States  a  purpose  to  yield  to  the  present  distressing 
urgency  of  the  brethren  from  the  North  and  resign  his  office  of  bishop,  and 
whereas,  in  a  meeting  of  said  delegates  to  consider  this  matter,  after  solemn 
prayer  and  much  deliberation,  it  appears  to  us  that  his  resignation  would  in- 
flict an  incurable  wound  on  the  whole  South  and  inevitably  lead  to  division 
in  the  church,  therefore  we  do  unanimously  concur  in  requesting  the  bishop, 
by  all  his  love  for  the  unity  of  the  church,  which  his  resignation  will  certainly 
jeopardize,  not  to  allow  himself  for  any  consideration  to  resign. 

(Signed)    L.  Pierce,  Chairman. 

L.  M.  Lee,  Secretary. 

New  York,  May  10,  1844. 

So  far  as  Bishop  Andrew  was  personally  concerned,  if 
he  had  through  ignorance  or  mistaken  judgment  become 
the  occasion  of  trouble,  he  was  willing  and  more  than  will- 
ing to  get  out  of  the  way ;  but  it  was  too  late.  Resigna- 
tion was  now  out  of  the  question  and  impossible.  Nor 
would  it  have  helped  matters,  if  he  had  insisted  on  resign- 
ing; for,  although  it  might  have  been  a  temporary  pacifi- 
cation to  the  Northern  men,  it  would  have  been  inter- 
preted by  the  South  as  enforced,  and  as  a  virtual  surrender 
of  their  rights  under  the  law  and  discipline  of  the  church, 
and  they  would  in  all  probability  have  seceded  in  a  body. 

But  the  resolution  asking  Bishop  Andrew  to  resign  was 
never  put  to  vote.  It  was  displaced,  on  the  next  day  after 
its  proposal,  by  a  substitute.  This,  it  was  believed,  would 
be  less  offensive  to  Bishop  Andrew  and  the  Southern  dele- 
gates than  the  resolution  asking  for  his  resignation. 

The  substitute  was  offered  by  J.  B.  Finley  and  J.  M. 
Trimble,  of  Ohio,  as  follows: 


THE  FINLE Y- TRIMBLE  RESOLUTION. 


23 


Whereas  the  discipline  of  our  church  forbids  the  doing  anything  calcu- 
lated to  destroy  our  itinerant  general  superintendency ;  and  Whereas  Bishop 
Andrew  has  become  connected  with  slavery  by  marriage  and  otherwise,  and 
this  act  having  drawn  after  it  circumstances  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
General  Conference,  will  greatly  embarrass  the  exercise  of  his  office  as  an 
itinerant  general  superintendent,  if  not  in  some  places  entirely  prevent  it ; 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference  that  he  desist 
from  the  exercise  of  this  office  so  long  as  this  impediment  remains. 

(Signed)    J.  B.  Finley, 
J.  M.  Trimble. 

It  was  upon  this  resolution  that  the  great  historic  de- 
bate of  1844  took  place.  Mr.  Finley,  in  supporting  the 
resolution,  said : 

This  resolution  does  not  impeach  the  character  of  Bishop  Andrew  in  any 
way ;  and  as  no  brother  here  would  deny  the  fact  that  he  had  become  con- 
nected with  slavery,  the  resolution  is  predicated  on  the  principle  that  the  act 
has  brought  after  it  circumstances  which  would  impede  and  prevent  his  circu- 
lation as  an  itinerant  general  superintendent. 

What  do  we  request  of  Bishop  Andrew  in  this  resolution?  We  do  not 
depose  him  as  bishop ;  we  only  say  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference 
that  he  ought  to  cease  to  exercise  the  office  till  his  embarrassment  ceases.  I 
do  not  wish  the  bishop  to  resign.  I  will  permit  no  man  on  the  floor  to  say 
that  he  has  a  warmer  attachment  to  Bishop  Andrew  than  I  have.  I  love 
him  as  a  Christian,  as  a  minister,  and  as  a  bishop.  I  hope  the  General 
Conference  will  give  him  a  little  time,  and  perhaps  he  will  by  and  by  be  able, 
consistently  with  his  interests  at  the  South,  to  free  himself  from  this  incubus 
of  slavery,  and  we  shall  have  him  with  us  again  as  our  beloved  bishop. 

The  situation  was  singularly  difficult.  Perhaps  no  more 
difficult  question  ever  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Christian 
Church  embarrassed  an  ecclesiastical  body.  In  short,  it 
was  unmanageable.  To  prevent  widespread  disaster  on 
one  side  or  the  other  there  was  but  one  solution,  and 
that  the  General  Conference  of  1844  finally  reached.  The 
long  and  exhaustive  debate  which  followed  upon  the  reso- 
lution of  Mr.  Finley,  developed  radical  differences  of  view 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern  delegates  concerning 
fundamental  questions  of  church  polity  and  law,  in  partic- 


24 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  ii. 


ular,  concerning  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  General 
Conference,  and  the  tenure  of  office  of  the  bishops,  or, 
more  broadly,  the  relation  of  the  episcopal  office  to  the 
government  of  Episcopal  Methodism.  And  the  differ- 
ences of  view,  then  and  there  developed,  continue  till  this 
day,  for  the  most  part,  to  distinguish  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
on  these  great  questions. 

But  the  long  and  able  discussion  of  the  situation  had 
developed  no  solution  that  would  be  satisfactory  to  both 
sides.  It  had  rather  developed  and  multiplied  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  any  settlement  of  the  question.  On  Thurs- 
day, May  30th,  Bishop  Hedding  suggested  that  the  con- 
ference have  no  afternoon  session,  in  order  to  allow  the 
bishops  to  consult  together  with  the  hope  that  they  might 
be  able  to  "  present  some  plan  of  adjusting  our  present 
difficulties."  The  suggestion  was  received  with  general  and 
great  cordiality.  Accordingly,  on  Friday  morning,  May 
31st,  the  bishops  presented  the  following  communication: 

To  the  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  : 

Reverend  and  dear  Brethren:  The  undersigned  respectfully  and 
affectionately  offer  to  your  calm  consideration  the  result  of  their  consultation 
this  afternoon  in  regard  to  the  unpleasant  and  very  delicate  question  w  hich 
has  been  so  long  and  so  earnestly  debated  before  your  body.  To  us  it  is 
fully  apparent  that  a  decision  on  this  cpuestion,  whether  affirmatively  or  nega- 
tively, will  most  extensively  disturb  the  peace  and  harmony  of  that  widely 
extended  brotherhood  which  has  so  effectively  operated  for  good  in  the 
United  States  of  America  and  elsewhere  during  the  last  sixty  years,  in  the 
development  of  a  system  of  active  energy,  of  which  union  has  always  been  a 
main  element.  At  this  painful  crisis  they  have  unanimously  concurred  in 
the  propriety  of  recommending  the  postponement  of  further  action  in  the 
case  of  Bishop  Andrew  until  the  ensuing  General  Conference.  Until  the 
cessation  of  the  embarrassment  or  the  expiration  of  the  interval  between  the 
present  and  the  ensuing  General  Conference,  the  undersigned  believe  that 
such  a  division  of  the  work  of  the  general  superintendency  might  be  made, 
without  any  infraction  of  a  constitutional  principle,  as  would  fully  employ 
Bishop  Andrew  in  those  sections  of  the  church  in  which  his  presence  and 
services  would  be  welcome  and  cordial.    If  the  course  pursued  on  this  occa- 


POSTPONEMENT  SUGGESTED  BY  7'HE  1U  SHOPS.  25 


sion  by  the  undersigned  be  deemed  a  novel  one,  they  persuade  themselves 
that  their  justification,  in  the  view  of  all  candid  and  peace-loving  persons, 
will  be  found  in  their  strong  desire  to  prevent  disunion,  and  to  promote 
harmony  in  the  church. 

Very  respectfully  and  affectionately  submitted, 

Joshua  Soule, 
Elijah  Hedding, 
B.  Waugh, 
T.  A.  Morris. 

This  suggestion  of  the  bishops  would  seem  a  timely, 
reasonable,  and  pacific  measure  to  adopt,  but  it  was  in 
vain.  On  Saturday,  June  1st,  Bishop  Hedding  in  open 
conference  withdrew  his  name  from  the  paper.  His  rea- 
sons for  so  doing  are  given  by  the  Rev.  James  Porter  in 
an  article  in  the  "  Quarterly  Review  "  for  April,  187 1  : 

Abolitionists  regarded  this  suggestion  of  the  bishops  as  a  most  alarming 
measure.  Accordingly,  the  delegates  of  the  New  England  conferences  were 
immediately  called  together,  and,  after  due  deliberation,  unanimously  adopted 
a  paper  declaring,  in  substance,  that  it  was  their  solemn  conviction  that  if 
Bishop  Andrew  should  be  left  by  the  conference  in  the  exercise  of  episcopal 
functions,  it  would  break  up  most  of  our  churches  in  New  England ;  and 
that  the  only  way  that  they  could  be  holden  together  would  be  to  secede  in 
a  body  and  invite  Bishop  Hedding  to  preside  over  them.  The  proposition 
was  agreed  in  by  some  of  our  most  distinguished  laymen  who  were  present, 
and  a  committee  of  two  was  appointed  to  communicate  this  action  to  Bishop 
Hedding.  On  June  1st  the  bishop  was  fully  informed  of  the  aforesaid  action. 
He  then  publicly  withdrew  his  name  from  the  paper  which  he  and  the  other 
bishops  had  signed.1 

Thus  it  appears  that  if  Bishop  Andrew  were  left  in  the 
exercise  of  his  episcopal  functions,  even  though  assigned 
to  work  in  the  South,  the  churches  in  New  England  would 
go  to  pieces;  while,  if  he  should  be-in  any  way  molested, 
the  church  in  the  South  would  go  to  pieces.  However, 
the  address  and  recommendation  of  the  bishops  was,  by 
vote  of  the  conference,  laid  on  the  table.  The  substitute 
of  Messrs.  Finley  and  Trimble  was  then  put,  and  was  car- 
ried by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  ten  to  sixty- eight. 

1  See  Matlack,  p.  172. 


26 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  ii. 


After  this  action,  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  of  Georgia,  gave 
notice  that  a  protest  would  be  presented  by  the  minority 
on  this  vote  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable,  to  be  entered 
on  the  journal  of  the  conference. 

The  language  of  the  resolution  concerning  Bishop  An- 
drew was  such  that  it  might  be  construed  as  only  advisory, 
and  so  possibly  would  have  been  construed ;  but  that  ques- 
tion was  put  to  the  test,  and  that  possible  construction  of 
the  resolution  was  effectually  excluded  by  the  action  of  the 
conference  on  the  next  day  after  the  resolution  was  adopted. 
Messrs.  Sheer  and  Sargent  offered  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference  that  the  vote  of 
Saturday  last  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  be  understood  as  advisory  only, 
and  not  in  the  light  of  a  judicial  mandate;  and  that  the  final  disposition  of 
Bishop  Andrew's  case  be  postponed  until  the  General  Conference  of  1848, 
in  conformity  with  the  suggestion  of  the  bishops.1 

But  this  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table. 

Events  were  now  shaping  themselves  toward  the  end. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  things  should  remain  in 
this  condition ;  nor  did  they.  Nothing,  so  far,  was  settled. 
Everything  was  exactly  unsettled.  The  refusal  of  the 
majority  to  construe  the  Finley  resolution  as  advisory  left 
the  minority  to  interpret  it  as  mandatory,  and  this  was 
to  them  even  a  graver  action  than  the  original  resolution 
requesting  Bishop  Andrew  to  resign — in  their  judgment 
it  was  a  virtual  suspension  of  him,  and  that  without  due 
form  of  law  and  process  of  trial.  Thus  they  knew  it 
would  be  interpreted  by  the  mass  of  the  church-member- 
ship in  the  South,  and  they  knew  that  wholesale  disaffec- 
tion and  secession  would  follow.  They  felt  in  duty  bound 
to  express  their  convictions  and  misgivings,  to  enter  some 
protest,  and  to  make  some  effort  to  stand  for  and  defend 
the  church  in  the  South,  in  order  to  prevent,  if  possible, 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,"  p.  85. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  PROTEST. 


27 


its  demoralization  and  disintegration.  And  will  any  fair- 
minded  man  say  that  they  did  wrong  and  were  to  blame 
for  so  doing? 

In  their  Protest  they  say : 

We  protest  against  the  recent  act  of  a  majority  of  this  General  Conference 
as  an  attempt  to  establish  a  dangerous  precedent  subversive  of  the  union 
and  stability  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  especially  as  placing  in 
jeopardy  the  general  superintendency  of  the  church  by  subjecting  any  bishop 
at  any  time  to  the  will  and  caprice  of  a  majority  of  the  General  Conference, 
not  only  without  law,  but  in  defiance  of  the  restraints  and  provisions  of  law. 
We  protest  against  the  act  because  we  recognize  in  this  General  Conference 
no  right,  power,  or  authority  to  suspend  or  depose  a  bishop  of  the  church 
without  formal  presentation  of  a  charge  or  charges  alleging  that  the  bishop 
to  be  dealt  with  has  been  guilty  of  the  violation  of  some  law,  and  also  upon 
conviction  of  such  charge  after  due  form  of  trial.  We  protest  against  the 
act  in  question  as  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law  usually  known  as  the 
Compromise  Law  of  the  church  on  the  subject  of  slavery — the  only  law  which 
can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew,  and  the  assertion 
and  maintenance  of  which,  until  it  is  constitutionally  revoked,  is  guaranteed 
by  the  honor  and  good  faith  of  this  body  as  the  representative  assembly 
of  the  thirty-three  Annual  Conferences  known  as  contracting  parties  in  the 
premises.  It  is  assumed,  and  the  assumption  acted  upon,  that  expediency 
may  have  jurisdiction  even  in  the  presence  of  law,  the  law,  too,  being  special, 
and  covering  the  case  in  terms.  Had  Bishop  Andrew  been  suspended 
according  to  law  after  due  form  of  trial,  we  would  have  submitted  without 
remonstrance,  as  the  friends  of  law  and  order.  The  minority  are  aware  that 
it  is  affirmed  by  some  of  the  majority,  though  denied  by  others,  that  the  reso- 
lution censuring  and  virtually  suspending  Bishop  Andrew,  as  understood 
by  the  minority,  is  mere  matter  of  advice  or  recommendation ;  but  the  nature 
of  the  resolution,  by  fair  and  necessary  construction,  is  imperative  and  man- 
datory in  form,  and  conveys  the  idea  plainly  that  it  is  the  judgment  and  will  of 
the  conference  that  Bishop  Andrew  shall  cease  to  exercise  the  office  of  bishop 
until  he  shall  cease  to  be  the  owner  of  slaves.  A  motion,  too,  to  declare  the 
resolution  advisory  was  promptly  rejected  by  the  majority,  and  in  view  of  all 
these  facts  and  the  entire  proceedings  in  the  case,  we  have  been  compelled 
to  consider  the  resolution  as  a  mandatory  judgment  to  the  effect  that  Bishop 
Andrew  desist  from  the  exercise  of  his  episcopal  functions.  We  can  never 
consent,  while  we  have  a  plain  law  obviously  covering  an  assumed  offense, 
that  the  offense  shall  be  taken,  under  plea  of  conscience  and  principle,  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  law,  and  be  re-subjected  to  the  conflicting  opinions  and 
passions  which  originally  led  to  a  resort  to  law,  as  the  only  safe  standard  of 
judgment.  We  do  not  understand  how  conscience  and  principle  can  attach 
grave  blame  to  action  not  disapproved  by  the  law — express  law,  too,  made 


28 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  U. 


and  provided  in  the  case — without  extending  condemnation  to  the  law  itself 
and  the  body  from  which  it  proceeds.  Impelled  by  conscience  and  principle 
to  the  illegal  arrest  of  a  bishop  because  he  has  incidentally,  by  bequest,  in- 
heritance, and  marriage,"  come  into  the  possession  of  slave  property,  in  no 
instance  intending  to  possess  himself  of  such  property,  how  long  will  con- 
science and  principle  leave  other  ministers,  or  even  lay  members,  undisturbed 
who  may  happen  to  be  in  the  same  category  with  Bishop  Andrew  ?  Will 
assurances  be  given  that  the  lawlessness  of  expediency,  controlled,  as  in  such 
cases,  as  it  must  be,  by  prejudice  and  passion,  will  extend  no  further,  that 
there  shall  be  no  further  curtailment  of  right  as  regards  the  Southern  minis- 
try?   Yet  what  is  the  security  of  the  South  in  the  case? 

As  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  now  organized,  and  according  to  its 
organization  since  1784,  the  episcopacy  is  a  coordinate  branch,  the  executive 
department  proper  of  the  government.  A  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  not  a  mere  creature — is  in  no  prominent  sense  an  officer — of  the 
General  Conference.  The  General  Conference,  as  such,  cannot  constitute  a 
bishop.  It  is  true,  the  Annual  Conferences  select  the  bishops  of  the  church 
by  the  suffrage  of  their  delegates  in  General  Conference  assembled,  but  the 
General  Conference,  in  its  capacity  of  a  representative  body  or  any  other  in 
which  it  exists,  does  not  possess  the  power  of  ordination,  without  which  a 
bishop  cannot  be  constituted.  Because  bishops  are  in  part  constituted  by  the 
General  Conference  the  power  of  removal  does  not  follow.  Episcopacy  is 
an  officially  consecrated  station  under  the  protection  of  law.  The  pow  er  to 
appoint  does  not  necessarily  involve  the  power  to  remove ;  and  when  the 
appointing  power  is  derivative,  as  in  the  case  of  the  General  Conference,  the 
power  of  removal  does  not  accrue  at  all,  unless  by  consent  of  the  coordinat- 
ing branches  of  the  government,  expressed  by  law,  made  and  provided  in  the 
case.  When  the  legislature  of  a  State  appoints  a  judge  or  a  senator  in  Con- 
gress, does  the  judge  or  senator  thereby  become  the  officer  or  creature  of  the 
legislature,  or  is  he  the  officer  or  senatorial  representative  of  the  State,  of 
which  the  legislature  is  the  mere  organ,  and  does  the  power  of  removal  fol- 
low that  of  appointment?  The  answer  is  negative  in  both  cases,  and  applies 
equally  to  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcpoal  Church,  who  are  the 
officers  and  servants  of  the  church,  chosen  by  the  General  Conference  as  its 
organ  of  action,  and  no  right  of  removal  accrues  except  as  they  fail  to  accom- 
plish the  aims  of  the  church  in  their  appointment,  and  then  only  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  law.  But  when  a  bishop  is  suspended,  or  in- 
formed that  it  is  the  wish  or  will  of  the  General  Conference  that  he  cease  to 
perform  the  functions  of  bishop  for  doing  what  the  law  of  the  same  body 
allows  him  to  do,  and,  of  course,  without  incurring  the  hazard  of  punish- 
ment or  even  blame,  then  the  whole  procedure  becomes  an  outrage  upon  jus- 
tice as  well  as  law.  Upon  this  theory  of  official  tenure,  the  provisions  of 
law  and  the  faithful  performance  of  duty  afford  ro  security.  The  bishops 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  are  slaves,  and  the  General  Conference 
their  masters  and  holders.     They  are  in  office  only  at  the  discretion  of 


DECLARATION  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  DELEGATES.  29 

a  majority  of  the  General  Conference,  without  the  restraints  or  protection 
of  law.1 

On  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  June  5th,  the  South- 
ern delegates  presented  the  following  declaration,  with  the 
purpose  of  eliciting  conference  action  in  the  premises: 

The  delegates  of  the  conferences  in  the  slaveholding  States  take  leave  to 
declare  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that 
the  continued  agitation  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  abolition  in  a  portion  of 
the  church,  the  frequent  action  on  that  subject  in  the  General  Conference, 
and  especially  the  extrajudicial  proceedings  against  Bishop  Andrew,  which 
resulted,  on  Saturday  last,  in  the  virtual  suspension  of  him  from  his  office  as 
superintendent,  must  produce  a  state  of  things  in  the  South  which  renders  a 
continuance  of  the  jurisdiction  of  that  General  Conference  over  these  con- 
ferences inconsistent  with  the  success  of  the  ministry  in  the  slaveholding 
States. 2 

On  motion  of  Dr.  Charles  Elliott  this  "  Declaration  "  was 
referred  to  a  committee  of  nine,  among  whom  were  Robert 
Paine,  Nathan  Bangs,  L.  L.  Hamline,  William  Winans,  and 
James  Porter.  This  committee  was  instructed  by  the  con- 
ference : 

To  devise,  if  possible,  a  constitutional  plan  for  a  mutual  and  friendly  divi- 
sion of  the  church,  provided  they  cannot,  in  their  judgment,  devise  a  plan 
for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  difficulty  now  existing  in  the  church  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.3 

After  three  days  of  deliberation  the*  committee  pre- 
sented their  report,  which  is  known  as  the  historic  "  Plan 
of  Separation."  Its  adoption  was  moved  by  Dr.  Charles 
Elliott,  on  whose  motion  the  committee  was  constituted. 
Their  report  is  as  follows : 

The  select  committee  of  nine  to  consider  and  report  on  the  declaration  of 
the  delegates  from  the  conferences  of  the  slaveholding  States,  beg  leave  to 
submit  the  following  report : 

Whereas  a  declaration  has  been  presented  to  this  General  Conference, 
with  the  signatures  of  fifty-one  delegates  of  the  body,  from  thirteen  Annual 

1  "  Debates  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,"  pp.  203-211. 

2  "Journal  of  1844,"  p.  109. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  in. 


30 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  ii. 


Conferences  in  the  slaveholding  States,  representing  that,  for  various  reasons 
enumerated,  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the  Christian  ministry  and  church 
organization  cannot  be  successfully  accomplished  by  them  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  this  General  Conference  as  now  constituted ;  and 

Whereas,  in  the  event  of  a  separation,  a  contingency  to  which  the  decla- 
ration asks  attention  as  not  improbable,  we  esteem  it  the  duty  of  this  General 
Conference  to  meet  the  emergency  w  ith  Christian  kindness  and  the  strictest 
equity  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Conferences  in  General 
Conference  assembled, 

1st.  That  should  the  delegates  from  the  conferences  in  the  slaveholding 
States  find  it  necessary  to  unite  in  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  connection,  the 
following  rule  shall  be  observed  with  regard  to  the  Northern  boundary  of 
such  connection :  All  the  societies,  stations,  and  conferences  adhering  to  the 
church  in  the  South,  by  a  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  members  of  said  societies, 
stations,  and  conferences,  shall  remain  under  the  unmolested  pastoral  care 
of  the  Southern  Church ;  and  the  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  shall  in  nowise  attempt  to  organize  churches  or  societies  within  the 
limits  of  the  Church,  South,  nor  shall  they  attempt  to  exercise  any  pastoral 
oversight  therein  ;  it  being  understood  that  the  ministry  of  the  South  recipro- 
cally observe  the  same  rule  in  relation  to  stations,  societies,  and  conferences 
adhering,  by  vote  of  a  majority,  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  pro- 
vided also  that  this  rule  shall  apply  only  to  societies,  stations,  and  confer- 
ences bordering  on  the  line  of  division,  and  not  to  interior  charges,  which 
shall  in  all  cases  be  left  to  the  care  of  that  church  within  whose  territory  they 
are  situated. 

2d.  That  ministers,  local  and  traveling,  of  every  grade  and  office  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  may,  as  they  prefer,  remain  in  that  church,  or, 
without  blame,  attach  themselves  to  the  Church,  South. 

3d.  Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  all  the  Annual  Conferences  in  General 
Conference  assembled,  That  we  recommend  to  all  the  Annual  Conferences, 
at  their  first  approaching  sessions,  to  authorize  a  change  of  the  Sixth  Restric- 
tive Rule,  so  that  the  first  clause  shall  read  thus:  "  They  shall  not  appro- 
priate the  produce  of  the  Book  Concern,  nor  of  the  Chartered  Fund,  to  any 
purpose  other  than  for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling  supernumerary,  super- 
annuated, and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and  children,  and 
to  such  other  purposes  as  may  be  determined  upon  by  the  votes  of  two  thirds 
of  the  members  of  the  General  Conference." 

4th.  That  whenever  the  Annual  Conferences,  by  a  vote  of  three  fourths 
of  all  their  members  voting  on  the  third  resolution,  shall  have  concurred  in 
the  recommendation  to  alter  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule,  the  agents  at  New- 
York  and  Cincinnati  shall,  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to, 
deliver  over  to  any  authorized  agent  or  appointee  of  the  Church,  South, 
should  one  be  authorized,  all  notes  and  book  accounts  against  the  ministers, 


THE  PLAN  OF  SEPARATION. 


31 


church-members,  or  citizens  within  its  boundaries,  with  authority  to  collect 
the  same  for  the  sole  use  of  the  Southern  Church,  and  that  said  agents  also 
convey  to  the  aforesaid  agent  or  appointee  of  the  South  all  the  real  estate, 
and  assign  to  him  all  the  property,  including  presses,  stock,  and  all  right 
and  interest  connected  with  the  printing  establishments  at  Charleston, 
Richmond,  and  Nashville,  which  now  belong  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

5th.  That  when  the  Annual  Conferences  shall  have  approved  the  aforesaid 
change  in  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule,  there  shall  be  transferred  to  the  above 
agent  of  the  Southern  Church  so  much  of  the  capital  and  produce  of  the 
Methodist  Book  Concern  as  will,  with  notes,  book  accounts,  presses,  etc., 
mentioned  in  the  last  resolution,  bear  the  same  proportion  to  the  whole 
property  of  said  Concern  that  the  traveling  preachers  in  the  Southern  Church 
shall  bear  to  all  traveling  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  the 
division  to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of  traveling  preachers  in  the 
forthcoming  minutes. 

6th.  That  the  above  transfer  shall  be  in  the  form  of  annual  payments  of 
$2500  per  annum,  and  specifically  in  stock  of  the  Book  Concern,  and  in 
Southern  notes  and  accounts  due  the  establishment,  and  accruing  after  the 
first  transfer  mentioned  above;  and  until  all  the  payments  are  made  the 
Southern  Church  shall  share  in  all  the  net  profits  of  the  Book  Concern,  in 
the  proportion  that  the  amount  due  them,  or  in  arrears,  bears  to  all  the 
property  of  the  Concern. 

7th.  That  be  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  commissioners  to  act  in 

concert  with  the  same  number  of  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Southern 
organization  (should  one  be  formed)  to  estimate  the  amount  which  will  fall 
due  to  the  South  by  the  preceding  rule,  and  to  have  full  powers  to  carry  into 
effect  the  whole  arrangements  proposed  with  regard  to  the  division  of  prop- 
erty, should  the  separation  take  place.  And  if  by  any  means  a  vacancy 
occurs  in  this  Board  of  Commissioners,  the  Book  Committee  at  New  York 
shall  fill  said  vacancy. 

8th.  That  whenever  any  agents  of  the  Southern  Church  are  clothed  with 
legal  authority  or  corporate  power  to  act  in  the  premises,  the  agents  at  New 
York  are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  act  in  concert  with  said  Southern 
agents,  so  as  to  give  the  provisions  of  these  resolutions  a  legally  binding 
force. 

9th.  That  all  the  property  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  meeting- 
houses, parsonages,  colleges,  schools,  conference  funds,  cemeteries,  and  of 
every  kind  within  the  limits  of  the  Southern  organization,  shall  be  forever 
free  from  any  claim  set  up  on  the  part  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
so  far  as  this  resolution  can  be  of  force  in  the  premises. 

10th.  That  the  church  so  formed  in  the  South  shall  have  a  common  prop- 
erty in  all  the  copyrights  in  possession  of  the  Book  Concern  at  New  York 
and  Cincinnati,  at  the  time  of  the  settlement  by  the  commissioners. 


32 


THE  METHODISTS,  'SOUTH. 


[Chap.  n. 


Resolved,  That  the  bishops  be  respectfully  requested  to  lay  that  part  of 
this  report  requiring  the  action  of  the  Annual  Conferences  before  them  as 
soon  as  possible,  beginning  with  the  New  York  Conference. 

Robert  Paine,  Chairman. 

New  York,  June  7,  1844. 1 

Dr.  Elliott  moved  the  adoption  of  the  report.    He  said : 

He  had  had  the  opportunity  of  examining  it,  and  had  done  so  narrowly. 
He  believed  it  would  insure  the  purposes  designed,  and  would  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  church.  It  was  his  firm  opinion  that  this  was  a  proper 
course  for  them  to  pursue,  in  conformity  with  the  Scriptures  and  the  best 
analogies  they  could  collect  from  the  ancient  churches,  as  well  as  from  the 
best  organized  modern  churches.  All  history  did  not  furnish  an  example 
of  so  large  a  body  of  Christians  remaining  in  such  close  and  unbroken  con- 
nection as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  was  now  found  necessary  to 
separate  this  large  body,  for  it  was  becoming  unwieldy.  He  referred  to  the 
churches  at  Antioch,  at  Alexandria,  at  Jerusalem,  which,  though  they  con- 
tinued as  one,  were  at  least  as  distinct  as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
would  be  if  the  suggested  separation  took  place.  The  Church  of  England 
was  one  under  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  connected  and  yet 
distinct.  In  his  own  mind  it  had  been  for  years  perfectly  clear  that  to  this 
conclusion  they  must  eventually  come.  Were  the  question  that  now  unhap- 
pily agitated  the  body  dead  and  buried,  there  would  be  good  reason  for  pass- 
ing the  resolutions  contained  in  that  report.  As  to  their  representation  in 
the  General  Conference,  one  out  of  twenty  was  but  a  meager  representation, 
and  to  go  on  as  they  had  done  it  would  soon  be  one  out  of  thirty.  And  the 
body  was  now  too  large  to  do  business  advantageously.  The  measure  con- 
templated was  not  schism,  but  separation  for  their  mutual  convenience  and 
prosperity.2 

The  report  of  the  committee  embodying  the  provisional 
Plan  of  Separation  was  adopted  by  a  majority  ranging 
from  135  to  153  on  the  several  resolutions,  against  18  to 
13  voting  in  the  negative.  This  was  done  on  June  8th, 
and  on  the  second  day  afterward  this  epoch-making  con- 
ference, the  last  General  Conference  of  the  United  Meth- 
odism of  America,  adjourned. 

The  Plan  of  Separation  as  conceived  and  agreed  on  was 
honorable  to  both  parties.     It  was  a  healing  measure,  and 

1  "  Journal  of  Conference  of  1844,"  p.  135. 

2  "  Debates  of  General  Conference  of  1844,"  p.  219. 


THE  MOTIVES  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  DELEGATES.  33 

a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  fifteenth  General  Conference  of 
United  Episcopal  Methodism,  and  the  last. 

From  this  history  it  will,  we  think,  be  evident  to  the 
candid  reader  that  the  Southern  delegates  in  1844  did 
not  contend  for  slavery.  They  contended  for  a  separate 
ecclesiastical  organization,  in  order  that,  secure  from  the 
continual  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  they  might, 
without  interfering  with  established  civil  institutions  and 
relations,  have  the  opportunity  and  privilege  of  giving  the 
gospel  to  the  slave-owners  of  the  South  and  their  slaves; 
for  whatever  excluded  them  from  the  former  excluded 
them  also  from  the  latter.  "  It  was  not  for  slavery,  but 
for  the  privilege  of  saving  the  slave,  that  our  fathers 
chiefly  contended,"  said  Bishop  Galloway,  the  fraternal 
delegate  to  the  British  Conference  in  1892.  They  could 
not  change  the  situation.  They  had  to  take  it  as  they 
found  it,  and  deal  with  it  as  best  they  could.  They  hon- 
estly thought  that  they  could  best  succeed  in  reaching 
both  slave-owners  and  slaves  by  giving  them  the  gospel 
as  they  were,  without  in  the  least  interfering  with  their 
civil  relations,  firmly  established,  as  these  were,  through 
long  years  of  usage,  sanctioned  by  the  very  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  guarded  by  the  most  rigid  State 
laws.  Nay,  they  believed  that  they  could  reach  them  in 
no  other  way;  but  that  if  they  undertook  to  abolish  these 
relations,  or  seriously  to  interfere  with  them,  they  would 
effectually  shut  themselves  out  from  all  access  to  the 
slaves  or  their  owners.  May  they  not  have  refrained 
from  such  revolutionary  efforts  in  the  spirit  of  St.  Paul, 
who,  we  are  told,  made  no  interference  with  slavery  in  his 
day  and  time,  because  he  knew  it  would  array  society  and 
the  world  against  his  gospel  and  doom  it  to  defeat  and 
failure?  At  least,  so  thought  and  said  the  Southern  dele- 
gates at  the  General  Conference  of  1844.     They  saw  and 


34 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.' 


[Chap,  il 


felt  and  acknowledged  the  evil  and  curse  of  slavery.  For 
example,  Dr.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  said  in  the  debate  on  the 
Harding  case : 

I  say  slavery  is  an  evil,  because  I  feel  it  to  be  an  evil.  And  who  cannot 
say  the  same  that  has  trod  the  soil  of  the  South?  It  is  an  evil.  The  Dis- 
cipline declares  the  truth  when  it  says,  "  We  are  as  much  as  ever  convinced 
of  the  great  evil  of  slavery."  Yes,  we  say  that  slavery  is  an  evil,  and  that 
Southern  people  know  and  feel  it  to  be  an  evil.  Who  knows  how  the  shoe 
pinches  but  he  who  wears  it  ?  And  who  more  than  we  who  have  been 
compelled  to  submit  to  it  to  the  present  moment?  So  sorely  did  we  in  Vir- 
ginia feel  the  evils  of  slavery  and  groan  under  them,  that,  from  the  debates 
in  1 83 1  in  the  Virginia  Legislature  and  the  popular  sentiment,  expressed  by 
pulpit  and  press,  no  doubt  was  entertained  that  the  State  was  about  to  adopt 
immediate  measures  for  its  gradual  extirpation.1 

These  sentiments  of  Dr.  Smith  were  heartily  responded 
to  by  the  delegates  from  the  South.2 
He  went  on  to  say : 

On  the  other  hand,  I  should  say  that  while  the  Discipline  deprecates  the 
evil  of  slavery,  it  requires  the  members  of  the  church  within  the  slave  States 
to  conform  their  action  to  the  laws  of  those  States  in  which  they  live. 

Dr.  McFerrin,  another  of  the  Southern  leaders,  said : 

I  never  bought  or  sold  a  slave,  but  those  which  I  had  were  family  ser- 
vants. I  had  treated  them  humanely,  and  never  intended  to  wrong  them  in 
any  sense.  In  my  heart  I  believed  slavery  to  be  an  evil — more  of  an  evil  to 
the  master  than  to  the  slave — but  under  the  circumstances,  and  in  view  of 
what  the  Bible  said,  I  did  not  believe  it  to  be  a  sin  per  se.% 

Thus,  then,  it  was  not  for  slavery  that  they  contended, 
but  for  security  from  molestation  in  preaching  the  gospel 
to  slave-owners  and  to  slaves  without  running  the  risk  of 
being  denied  access  to  both  classes  by  interfering  with 
existing  institutions  and  civil  relations.  At  least,  so  it 
appears  from  the  proceedings  and  debates  of  1844. 

But  it  was  not  for  this  alone  that  they  contended. 

1  "  Debates  of  1844,"  pp.  26,  27. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  44. 

3  "  Life  of  McFerrin,"  p.  269. 


CONTENTION  FOR  THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  LAW.  35 

They  contended  also  for  the  authority  of  law,  for  the 
sanctity  of  the  Constitution,  and  for  the  sacredness  of  the 
rights  of  ministers  under  the  Constitution  and  the  law,  as 
the  extracts  previously  quoted  from  the  Protest  show. 
(See  page  27  ff.)  And  yet  this  is  not  intended  on  the 
part  of  this  writer  to  imply  any  criticism  of  the  action  of 
the  majority  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew.  In  the  first 
place,  he  committed  an  error  in  becoming  connected  with 
slavery.  Not  that  he  offended  against  the  written  law, 
but  against  the  unwritten,  higher  law  of  charity,  which 
seeketh  not  her  own,  which  surrenders  her  rights  rather 
than  be  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  Others.  But, 
having  become  entangled  with  slavery,  it  became  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  General  Conference  to  take  some 
action,  and  some  immediate  action  in  his  case,  in  order  to 
save  large  portions  of  the  church  in  the  North  from  dis- 
affection and,  secession,  and  perhaps  ruin.  In  the  second 
place,  they  believed  that  they  were  acting  in  accordance 
with  the  Constitution,  as  their  speeches  during  the  debate 
show.  What  could  the  General  Conference  of  1844  do,  in 
view  of  the  circumstances,  except  what  it  did?  It  seems 
to  this  writer  that  they  did  even  more  wisely  than  they 
knew,  in  doing  what  they  did.  Only  if,  as  good  Bishop 
Morris  afterward  wrote,  "  the  plan  "  which  the  General 
Conference  of  1844  devised  and  adopted,  "  had  been  car- 
ried out  in  good  faith  and  Christian  feeling  on  both  sides," 
all  the  desirable  ends  of  the  division  into  two  jurisdictions 
would  have  been  met,  and  "  it  would  scarcely  have  been 
felt  any  more  than  the  division  of  an  Annual  Conference." 

As  to  the  power  of  the  General  Conference  to  authorize 
or  provide  for  the  separation  of  a  part  of  the  church,  there 
was  a  distinct  precedent  in  the  action  of  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1820. 

The  operations  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 


36 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  ii- 


of  the  missionaries  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Conference  ex- 
tended over  the  same  territory  in  the  provinces  of  Upper 
and  Lower  Canada.  Hence  there  were  frequent  colli- 
sions and  much  friction.  In  1820,  on  account  of  many 
and  urgent  memorials  received  from  the  Canadian  socie- 
ties, the  General  Conference  empowered  the  bishops  u  to 
negotiate  with  the  British  Conference  respecting  Lower 
Canada  in  the  way  and  manner  they  shall  see  fit,"  and,  if 
possible,  to  send  a  delegate  to  England  for  the  purpose. 
The  Rev.  John  Emory  was  appointed,  and  in  their  letter 
of  official  instructions  to  him  the  bishops  say : 

We  are  of  opinion  that  the  most  effectual  means  to  prevent  collisions  in 
future  will  be  to  establish  a  specific  line  by  which  our  field  of  labor  shall  be 
bounded  on  one  side  and  the  British  missionaries  on  the  other.  With  this 
view  you  are  at  liberty  to  stipulate  that  our  preachers  shall  confine  their 
labors  in  Canada  to  the  Upper  Province,  provided  the  British  missionaries 
will  confine  theirs  to  the  Lower.1 

Mr.  Emory  succeeded  in  effecting  this  arrangement  with 
the  British  Conference,  and  accordingly  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  addressed  to  the  private  and  official  members  in 
Lower  Canada  a  circular  letter,  dated  October  16,  1820: 

It  has  been  agreed  that  our  British  brethren  shall  supply  the  Lower 
Provinces  and  our  preachers  the  Upper.  It  becomes  our  duty,  therefore,  to 
inform  you  of  this  agreement,  and  to  advise  you,  in  the  most  affectionate  and 
earnest  manner,  to  put  yourselves  and  your  chapels  under  the  care  of  our 
British  brethren,  as  their  societies  and  chapels  in  the  Upper  Province  will 
be  put  under  our  care.  .  .  .  This  communication,  we  confess,  is  not  made 
without  pain.  But  necessity  is  laid  upon  us.  It  is  a  peace-offering.  For- 
give, therefore,  our  seeming  to  give  you  up. 

Accordingly,  a  committee  of  three  preachers  from  each 
connection  met  at  Montreal  February  15,  1821,  and  fixed 
the  time  and  manner  for  delivering  up  the  several  charges 
which  were  to  be  relinquished  on  both  sides. 

Thus  the  General  Conference  empowered  the  bishops 

1  Dr.  Emory's  "  Life  of  Bishop  Emory,"  pp.  93,  94. 


THE  CANADA  PRECEDENT  OE  1820. 


37 


and  the  bishops  empowered  Mr.  Emory,  and  Mr.  Emory 
contracted  with  the  British  Conference  to  surrender  to 
that  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  a  portion  of  the  membership 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  contract  was 
faithfully  executed.  (See  Dr.  Tigert's  "  Constitutional 
History  of  American  Methodism.") 

This  was  arranged  for  and  consummated  long  before 
the  theory  of  a  "  compact "  between  the  Methodists  of 
Canada  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  invented. 
That  theory  was  hit  upon  to  obviate  a  difficulty  which  oc- 
curred to  the  delegates  of  the  General  Conference  of  1828  ; 
but  in  1820  the  difficulty  had  not  been  thought  of. 

It  did  not  occur  to  Bishop  McKendree  that  there  was 
any  violation  or  disregard  of  the  constitution  in  the  action 
of  the  General  Conference  of  1820  in  setting  off  the  charges 
of  Lower  Canada  and  surrendering  them  to  another  and  a 
foreign  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  though  it  was  done  with- 
out their  request,  without  their  consent,  without  even  con- 
sulting them.  Indeed  Bishop  McKendree  was  the  chief 
agent  in  effecting  the  arrangement.  And  no  man  in  the 
history  of  American  Methodism  understood  the  constitution 
of  the  church  and  the  powers  of  the  General  Conference 
better  than  William  McKendree,  or  was  more  conscien- 
tiously and  consistently  jealous  than  he  of  any  usurpation 
of  the  one  or  infraction  of  the  other. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH,  SOUTH. 

THE  General  Conference  had  made  provision  for  the 
separation  of  the  Southern  conferences  and  their  erection 
into  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  connection,  on  condition  that 
those  conferences  should  find  a  severance  of  their  jurisdic- 
tional connection  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
necessary.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  view  of  the  Southern 
conferences  on  the  necessity  of  separation,  the  delegates 
of  those  conferences  thought  it  advisable  to  meet  together 
before  leaving  New  York,  and  hold  a  consultation.  In 
order  to  promote  uniformity  of  action  in  the  premises 
they  submitted  to  the  conferences  a  plan  for  procuring 
the  judgment  of  the  church  in  the  slaveholding  States  as 
to  the  necessity  of  organizing  a  Southern  division  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  best  way  of  effecting  such  an  organization  should  it 
be  deemed  necessary.  That  plan  was  to  hold  a  conven- 
tion at  Louisville,  Ky.,  beginning  May  I,  1845,  anc*  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  Southern  conferences  in  the 
ratio  of  one  for  every  eleven  members.  These  confer- 
ences were  to  instruct  their  delegates  to  the  proposed 
convention  on  the  points  on  which  action  was  contem- 
plated, conforming  their  instructions,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the  membership  within  their 
several  conference  bounds.  They  also  issued  an  address 
to  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  Southern  conferences 

38 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  DELEGATES.  39 


"  conveying  authentic  information  of  the  provisional  Plan 
of  Separation,  under  which  relief  in  a  regular  way  could 
be  obtained  from  the  Northern  jurisdiction,  if  they  judged 
it  necessary."  They  counseled  moderation  and  forbear- 
ance. They  declared  that  the  separation  proposed  was  not 
schism,  as  Dr.  Elliott  also  had  said  in  his  speech  advo- 
cating the  plan.  They  declared  that  they  "  have  clung  to 
the  cherished  unity  of  the  church  with  a  firmness  of  pur- 
pose and  a  force  of  feeling  which  nothing  but  invincible 
necessity  could  subdue.  If,  however,  nominal  unity  must 
coexist  with  unceasing  strife  and  alienated  feeling,  what  is 
likely  to  be  gained  by  its  perpetuation?  Disposed,  how- 
ever, to  defer  to  the  judgment  of  the  church,  we  leave  this 
subject  with  you.  The  plan  does  not  decide  that  division 
shall  take  place,  but  simply  provides  that  it  may,  if  it  be 
found  necessary.  Of  this  necessity  you  are  to  be  the 
judges  after  a  careful  survey  and  comparison  of  all  the 
reasons  for  and  against  it.  Our  first  and  most  direct 
object  has  been  to  bring  it  fully  before  you,  and,  giving 
you  an  opportunity  to  judge  and  determine  for  your- 
selves, await  your  decision." 

The  Kentucky  Conference  was  the  first  in  the  Southern 
division  of  the  church  to  meet  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  General  Conference.  It  convened  on  September  1 1, 
1844,  and  adopted,  among  others,  the  following  resolu- 
tions, with  but  one  dissenting  voice : 

Resolved,  1.  That  it  is  the  deliberate  judgment  of  this  conference  that  the 
action  of  the  late  General  Conference,  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  and  of 
the  Rev.  F.  A.  Harding,  is  not  sustained  by  the  Discipline  of  the  church, 
and  that  we  consider  those  proceedings  as  constituting  a  highly  dangerous 
precedent. 

2.  That  we  deeply  regret  the  prospect  of  division  growing  out  of  those 
proceedings. 

3.  That  we  approve  the  holding  a  convention  of  delegates  in  Louisville 
next  May  agreeably  to  the  recommendation  of  the  Southern  and  South- 
western delegates  in  the  late  General  Conference. 


40 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  hi. 


4.  That  unless  we  can  be  assured  that  the  rights  of  our  ministry  and 
membership  can  be  effectually  secured  according  to  the  Discipline  against 
future  aggressions,  and  reparation  be  made  for  past  injury,  we  shall  deem 
the  contemplated  division  unavoidable. 

5.  That  we  approve  the  course  of  our  delegates  in  the  late  General  Con- 
ference, and  tender  them  our  thanks  for  their  faithful  and  independent  dis- 
charge of  duty  in  a  trying  crisis. 

6.  That  we  respectfully  invite  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  who  may  feel  disposed  to  do  so,  to  be  in  attendance  at  the  contem- 
plated convention. 

7.  That  we  appoint  Friday  preceding  the  day  for  the  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention, as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  on 
the  said  convention. 

Resolutions  to  the  same  effect,  and  covering  the  same 
ground,  were  passed  at  the  sessions  of  the  Missouri,  Hol- 
ston,  Tennessee,  Memphis,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Texas, 
Alabama,  and  Indian  Mission  conferences.  The  resolu- 
tions passed  by  some  of  these  conferences  concerning  the 
unconditional  necessity  of  separation  were  much  stronger 
than  those  of  the  Kentucky  Conference,  but  in  other  re- 
spects they  were  very  similar.  Great  unanimity  prevailed 
in  respect  to  all  the  points  touched  upon  in  the  foregoing 
resolutions.  Indeed,  it  has  been  said  by  one  who  took 
part  in  those  proceedings,  and  who  with  wide  opportu- 
nities made  a  study  of  this  whole  history,  that  "  those  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  read  the  utterances  of  these  con- 
ferences will  find  that  the  history  of  the  world  does  not 
offer  a  parallel  to  the  unanimity  of  sentiment,  thought, 
and  purpose  which  they  exhibited  on  a  subject  of  such 
momentous  importance.  Their  course  was  taken  reluct- 
antly, sadly,  but  firmly,  and  for  the  glory  of  God."1 

The  meeting  of  the  delegates  from  the  Southern  con- 
ferences in  convention  at  Louisville,  in  May,  1845,  was 
looked  to  with  great  and  general  interest.     It  is  said  that 

1  Myers'  "  Disruption  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 


THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION. 


41 


hundreds  of  ministers  and  members  attended  .the  con- 
vention to  witness  the  progress  and  result  of  its  delib- 
erations, and  the  entire  church,  North  and  South,  awaited 
with  painful  solicitude  the  final  issue. 

There  were  between  ninety-five  and  a  hundred  dele- 
gates in  attendance  from  the  conferences  enumerated 
above.  Bishops  Soule,  Andrew,  and  Morris  were  pres- 
ent, and  were  requested  by  the  convention  to  preside  in 
turn,  but  Bishop  Morris  declined.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  was 
elected  temporary  president,  and  opened  the  convention 
with  a  Scripture  lesson  and  hymn,  and  a  "  suitable  and 
impressive  prayer  to  the  throne  of  grace."  Thomas  O. 
Summers  was  elected  secretary,  and  Thomas  N.  Ralston 
assistant.  On  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  the  con- 
vention a  notable  address  was  delivered  by  the  venerable 
Bishop  Soule.  It  will  be  remembered  that  he  was  the 
Senior  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Amer- 
ica. He  was  from  the  extreme  North.  He  had  been 
born  and  reared  in  Maine,  and  was,  at  the  time  referred 
to,  a  citizen  of  Ohio.  It  was  he  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  had  drafted  the  constitution  of  the  church.  It  was 
he  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  when  the  constitution  was 
in  peril,  more  than  any  other  man  had  saved  it;  and  it 
was  he  who,  though  a  Northern  man  and  never  a  pro- 
slavery  man,  undertook  the  defense  of  the  constitution  in 
the  great  controversy  that  agitated  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1844.     He  said  to  the  convention: 

I  rise  on  the  present  occasion  under  the  influence  of  feelings  more  solemn 
and  impressive  than  I  recollect  ever  to  have  experienced  before. 

I  am  deeply  impressed  with  a  conviction  of  the  important  results  of  your 
deliberations  and  decisions  in  relation  to  that  numerous  body  of  Christians 
and  Christian  ministers  you  here  represent  and  to  the  country  at  large. 
When  it  is  recollected  that  it  is  not  only  for  yourselves  and  the  present  min- 
istry and  membership  of  the  conferences  you  represent,  that  you  are  assem- 
bled here,  but  that  millions  of  the  present  race  and  generations  yet  unborn 


42 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  hi. 


may  be  affected  in  their  most  essential  interests  by  the  result  of  your  delib- 
erations, it  will  occur  to  you  how  important  it  is  that  you  should  do  all  things 
as  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God.  The  opinion  which  I  formed  at  the 
close  of  the  late  General  Conference,  that  the  proceedings  of  that  body 
would  result  in  a  division  of  the  church,  was  not  induced  by  the  impulse  of 
excitement,  but  was  predicated  of  principles  and  facts  after  the  most  deliberate 
and  mature  consideration.  And  however  deeply  I  have  regretted  such  result, 
yet,  believing  it  to  be  inevitable,  my  efforts  have  been  made,  not  to  prevent 
it,  but  rather  that  it  might  be  attended  with  the  least  injury  and  the  greatest 
amount  of  good  which  the  case  would  admit.  I  was  not  alone  in  this 
opinion.  A  number  of  aged  and  influential  ministers  entertained  the  same 
views,  and,  indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  any  one  acquainted  with  the 
facts  in  the  case  and  the  relative  position  of  the  North  and  South  could 
arrive  at  any  other  conclusion.  Nothing  has  transpired  since  the  close  of 
the  General  Conference  to  change  the  opinion  I  then  formed,  but  subsequent 
events  have  rather  confirmed  it.  In  the  Southern  conferences  which  I  have 
attended,  I  do  not  recollect  that  there  has  been  a  dissenting  voice  with  respect 
to  the  necessity  of  a  separate  organization,  and  although  their  official  acts  in 
deciding  the  important  question  have  been  marked  with  that  clearness  and 
decision  which  should  afford  satisfactory  evidence  that  they  acted  under  a 
solemn  conviction  of  duty  to  Christ  and  to  the  people  of  their  charge,  they 
have  been  equally  distinguished  by  moderation  and  candor.  For  myself,  I 
stand  upon  the  basis  of  Methodism  as  contained  in  the  Discipline,  and  from 
it  I  intend  never  to  be  removed. 

On  Monday,  May  5th,  the  following  resolution  was 
offered  by  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Smith  and  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce : 

Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Conferences  in  the  South- 
ern and  Southwestern  States  in  General  Convention  assembled : 

That  we  cannot  sanction  the  action  of  the  late  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  the  subject  of  slavery  by  remaining  under 
the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  that  body  without  deep  and  lasting  injury  to 
the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  country ;  we  therefore  hereby  instruct  the 
committee  on  organization  that,  if  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  whole 
subject  they  find  that  there  is  no  reasonable  ground  to  hope  that  the  Northern 
majority  will  recede  from  their  position  and  give  some  safe  guarantee  for  the 
future  security  of  our  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rights,  they  report  in  favor  of  a 
separation  from  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  said  General  Conference. 

After  a  lengthened  discussion  of  this  resolution,  extend- 
ing through  nine  days,  it  was,  on  May  14th,  adopted,  with 
one  dissenting  vote. 


ORGANIZATION  COMPLETED. 


43 


On  Saturday,  May  17th,  the  report  of  the  committee 
on  organization  was  taken  up  and  adopted,  as  follows: 

Be  it  resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Conferences  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  slaveholding  States,  in  General  Conven- 
tion assembled,  that  it  is  right,  expedient,  and  necessary  to  erect  the  Annual 
Conferences  represented  in  this  convention  into  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  con- 
nection, separate  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  as  at  present  constituted ;  and  accordingly,  we,  the 
delegates  of  said  Annual  Conferences,  acting  under  the  provisional  Plan 
of  Separation  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  do  solemnly 
declare  the  jurisdiction  hitherto  exercised  over  said  Annual  Conferences  by 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  entirely  dissolved ; 
and  that  said  Annual  Conferences  shall  be  and  they  hereby  are  constituted  a 
separate  ecclesiastical  connection  under  the  provisional  Plan  of  Separation 
aforesaid  and  based  upon  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
comprehending  the  doctrines  and  entire  moral,  ecclesiastical,  and  economical 
rules  and  regulations  of  said  Discipline,  except,  only,  in  so  far  as  verbal 
alterations  may  be  necessary  to  a  distinct  organization,  and  to  be  known  by 
the  style  and  title  of  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

This  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  ninety-four 
yeas  against  three  nays.  They  appointed  the  first  Gen- 
eral Conference  to  meet  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1846, 
in  the  city  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  and  thenceforward  in  the 
month  of  April  or  May,  once  in  four  years,  successively. 

After  adopting  various  other  measures  appropriate  to 
their  circumstances,  on  May  19th  the  convention  "Re- 
solved, That  we  devoutly  acknowledge  the  superintending 
providence  of  God  over  this  convention,  and  rejoice  in  the 
harmony  which  has  prevailed  in  all  its  deliberations  and 
decisions,"  and  adjourned ;  and  the  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  completed. 

In  the  interval  before  the  General  Conference  of  1846 
the  various  Annual  Conferences,  with  great  unanimity,  ap- 
proved the  acts  of  the  Louisville  Convention. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  FIRST  GENERAL  COXFERE^XE  OF  THE  METH- 
ODIST EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  SOUTH. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  assembled  by  appointment  of  the  Louis- 
ville Convention  in  the  Union  Street  Church  in  Petersburg, 
Va.,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1846.  There  were  eighty- 
seven  delegates,  from  sixteen  Annual  Conferences.  These 
men  came  together  in  this  first  general  representative 
assembly  of  their  church  with  solemn  impressions  of  the 
gravity  of  their  responsibility,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other,  with  a  steady  confidence  in  God  and  the  rightness 
of  their  course,  and  high  hopes  for  the  future.  Among 
them  were  such  men  as  the  venerable  Senior  Bishop  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  Joshua  Soule, 
the  venerable  Lovick  Pierce,  John  B.  McFerrin,  H.  B. 
Bascom,  William  Winans,  Robert  Paine,  A.  L.  P.  Green, 
Jonathan  Stamper,  John  Early,  William  Capers,  George  F. 
Pierce,  W'illiam  M.  Wightman,  Jefferson  Hamilton,  Thomas 
O.  Summers,  H.  H.  Kavanaugh,  Fountain  E.  Pitts.  Of 
these,  seven  afterward  became  bishops  in  the  church,  and 
every  one  of  them  honored  the  high  position. 

The  conference  was  called  to  order  by  Dr.  Winans,  of 
Mississippi,  and  John  Early  was  elected  temporary  chair 
man  ;  for,  though  Bishop  Soule  was  present,  he  had  not 
yet  formally  declared  his  adherence  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.    This  he  did,  however,  on  the 

44 


HI  SHOP  SOULE' S  COMMUNICATION. 


45 


second  day  of  the  conference,  in  the  following  formal 
communication : 

Petersburg,  Va.,  May  2,  1846. 
Reverend  and  Dear  Brethren:  I  consider  your  body  as  now  organ- 
ized as  the  consummation  of  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  in  conformity  to  the  Plan  of  Separation  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1844.  The  organiza- 
tion of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  being  thus  completed  in  the 
organization  of  the  General  Conference  with  a  constitutional  president,  the 
time  has  arrived  when  it  is  proper  for  me  to  announce  my  position.  Sus- 
taining no  relation  to  one,  Annual  Conference  which  I  did  not  sustain  to 
every  other,  and  considering  the  General  Conference  as  the  proper  judicatory 
to  which  my  communication  should  be  made,  I  have  declined  making  this 
announcement  until  the  present  time ;  and  now,  acting  with  strict  regard  to 
the  Plan  of  Separation  and  under  a  solemn  conviction  of  duty,  I  formally 
declare  my  adherence  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  And  if 
the  conference  receive  me  in  my  present  relation  to  the  church,  I  am  ready 
to  serve  them  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  In  conclusion,  I  indulge 
the  joyful  assurance  that,  although  separated  from  our  Northern  brethren  by 
a  distinct  conference  jurisdiction,  we  shall  never  cease  to  treat  them  as  breth- 
ren beloved,  and  cultivate  those  principles  and  affections  which  constitute 
the  essential  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Joshua  Soule. 

From  this  time,  Bishop  Soule  and  Bishop  Andrew,  who 
arrived  after  the  opening,  presided  in  turn  over  the  daily 
sessions  of  the  conference.  The  organization  of  the  body 
was  effected,  the  usual  committees  were  appointed,  and 
soon  they  were  launched  upon  the  current  of  routine 
General  Conference  proceedings.  These  men  were  not 
novices  in  the  conduct  of  a  Methodist  General  Confer- 
ence. They  were  old  hands  at  the  business,  and  among 
them  were  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  venerable  men  of 
the  Methodism  of  America.  At  this  very  first  session  of 
the  General  Conference  of  the  church,  her  representatives, 
while  recognizing  that  they  had  a  special  call  to  a  peculiar 
and  difficult  mission  work  in  their  own  territory,  did  not 
fail  to  cast  their  glance  abroad  and  to  acknowledge  their 
obligation  to  give  the  gospel,  as  far  as  in  them  lay,  to 


46 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  iv. 


unevangelized  peoples  beyond  the  pale  of  Christendom. 
They  strove  to  follow  in  the  succession  of  him  who  said, 
"  The  field  is  the  world,"  of  him  who  declared  himself 
"  debtor  to  Greeks  and  to  barbarians,"  and  of  him  who 
said,  "The  world  is  my  parish."  Accordingly,  early  in 
the  session  they  took  measures  for  enterprising  a  mission 
to  China.  For  the  furtherance  of  this  and  similar  objects, 
they  constituted  and  organized  a  permanent  Board  of 
Missions. 

Educated  from  of  old  to  know  the  need  and  value  of 
church  literature,  and  wishing  from  the  very  start  to 
secure  independent  facilities  of  their  own  for  furnishing 
it,  they  provided  for  a  Book  Concern.  However,  this 
arrangement  gave  place  to  another,  better  suited  to  the 
condition  of  the  church  at  the  time,  and  this  was  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  agent  to  provide  for  a  supply  of  books  for 
the  church  by  contracting  for  such  books  where  they  could 
be  obtained  on  the  best  terms.  He  was  to  cause  these 
books  to  be  kept  on  hand  at  Louisville,  Richmond,  and 
Charleston,  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  itinerant  preachers 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  John  Early 
was  elected  agent.  They  projected  three  weekly  religious 
papers,  to  be  published,  one  in  Louisville,  one  in  Richmond, 
and  one  in  Charleston.  They  provided  for  the  publication 
of  a  Sunday-school  journal,  and  established  a  "  Quarterly 
Review,"  of  which  H.  B.  Bascom  was  elected  editor.  John 
B.  McFerrin  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Nashville  Christian 
Advocate,"  W.  M.  Wightman  of  the  "  Southern  Christian 
Advocate  "  at  Charleston,  with  Thomas  O.  Summers  as 
assistant,  and  LeRoy  M.  Lee  was  elected  editor  of  the 
"  Richmond  Christian  Advocate." 

The  committee  on  episcopacy  recommended  the  election 
of  two  additional  bishops,  and  the  conference  concurred. 
Bishop  Soule  and  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  led  the  conference  in 


DR.  CAPERS  AXD  DR.  PAINE  BPS II DPS. 


47 


prayer  for  the  divine  direction  in  the  selection  of  their 
superintendents ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
event  justified  their  confidence  in  the  divine  guidance. 
On  the  second  ballot  William  Capers,  of  South  Carolina, 
and  Robert  Paine,  of  Tennessee,  were  elected  bishops  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  The  former  of 
these,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  elected  by  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1828, 
as  their  representative  to  the  British  Conference,  and  had 
discharged  his  delicate  duties  with  such  acceptability  and 
grace  as  to  elicit  from  that  distinguished  body  resolutions 
of  thanks  to  the  church  for  sending  him,  and  to  himself 
"  for  the  great  ability,  Christian  spirit,  and  brotherly  kind- 
ness with  which  he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  his  honor- 
able mission."  In  1840  he  had  been  elected  one  of  the 
general  missionary  secretaries  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  But  a  distinction,  higher  and  nobler  than  any  of 
these,  was  the  fact  that  in  1829,  after  having  served  long 
and  faithfully  as  a  preacher  to  and  pastor  of  thousands  of 
slaves  in  connection  with  his  white  congregations,  he  es- 
tablished missions  to  the  plantation  slaves,  and  was  him- 
self appointed  superintendent  of  these  missions.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  there  were,  as  the  product  of  this  move- 
ment, inaugurated  by  him,  twenty-six  mission  stations  in 
South  Carolina  alone,  on  which  were  employed  thirty-two 
preachers,  and  the  number  of  church-members  at  these 
stations  was  11,546. 

Dr.  Robert  Paine  was,  at  the  General  Conference  of 
1844,  chairman  of  the  general  committee  on  episcopacy,, 
and  chairman,  as  well,  of  the  famous  committee  of  nine 
who  drew  up  the  Plan  of  Separation.  He  had  been  at  the 
time  of  his  election  as  bishop  for  sixteen  years  and  still 
was  president  of  LaGrange  College  in  Alabama.  These 
two  tried  and  honored  men,  then,  were  the  first  choice  of 


4» 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  iv. 


the  Southern  Church  for  the  high  and  responsible  office  of 
general  superintendent.  They  were  consecrated  at  noon 
on  Thursday,  May  14th,  in  the  Washington  Street  Church. 
It  will  not  be  amiss  to  quote  a  short  extract  from  a  letter 
written  by  Bishop  Capers  to  his  wife  on  that  day : 

To-day  I  feel  that  we  are  all  on  the  altar  together.  And  oh!  have  I  not 
felt  that  the  altar  sanctifieth  the  gift?  I  have  only  to  cast  all  my  care  on 
God,  all  my  multiform  unworthiness  on  his  divine  goodness  and  condescen- 
sion in  Christ,  and  go  on.  I  have  so  reverenced  the  office  and  work  of  a 
bishop,  and  the  bishops  themselves,  that  that  very  thing  embarrasses  me.  I 
cannot  feel  myself  a  bishop,  but,  thank  God!  I  feel  what  is  better — an  abid- 
ing sense  of  being  accepted  of  him  in  an  humble  and  sincere  devotion  of 
myself  without  stint  to  his  service. 

The  General  Conference  of  1846  made  no  essential 
change  in  the  original  Discipline.  In  fact,  they  declare 
that  the  changes  made  by  them  were  fewer  in  number 
and  less  important  than  those  of  any  General  Conference 
since  1792.  On  the  subject  of  slavery  the  section  and 
rule  were  left  unchanged ;  only  a  paragraph  was  added 
explaining  that  the  section  was  understood  by  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  in  the  sense  of  the  declarations  made  by 
the  General  Conferences  of  1836  and  1840.  The  interests 
of  the  slave  population  received  special  attention.  The 
report  of  the  committee  on  missions  adopted  by  the  con- 
ference has  these  words :  "  The  duty  of  giving  the  gospel 
to  the  slave  population  is  binding  on  all  according  to  their 
ability,  and  it  is  binding  on  all,  as  they  are  severally  able, 
with  the  same  force  of  indispensable  obligation."  This 
report  occupies  three  pages  of  the  conference  journal.1 

Three  new  conferences,  in  addition  to  the  original  six- 
teen, were  constituted  by  the  General  Conference  of  1846 
— the  Louisville,  the  St.  Louis,  and  the  Louisiana. 

It  was  ordered  that  three  commissioners  be  appointed, 

1  See  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1846,"  pp.  65-67. 


FRATERNAL  DELEGATE  TO  M.  E.  CHURCH.  49 

in  accordance  with  the  Plan  of  Separation,  to  act  in  con- 
cert with  commissioners  appointed  for  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  u  concerning  our  interest  in  the  Book  Con- 
cern." These  commissioners  were  H.  B.  Bascom,  A.  L.  P. 
Green,  and  S.  A.  Latta.  And  "  should  no  settlement  be 
effected  before  1848,  said  commissioners  were  to  have 
authority  to  attend  the  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  to  settle  and  adjust  all  questions 
involving  property  or  funds  which  may  be  pending  be- 
tween the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South."1 

Though  the  Southern  conferences  had  thus  consum- 
mated their  separation  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  as  provided  for  in  1844,  yet,  as  they  had  all 
along  declared,  they  entertained  feelings  of  the  most 
cordial  good-will  and  brotherly  kindness  toward  their 
brethren  of  the  Northern  conferences,  and  they  neither 
forgot  nor  neglected  to  give  practical  expression  to  those 
feelings  in  their  official  capacity  as  a  General  Conference. 
Accordingly,  on  Saturday,  May  23d,  it  was  by  a  rising 
and  unanimous  vote 

Resolved,  That  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  be  and  is  hereby  delegated  to  visit  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  be  held  in  Pitts- 
burg  May,  1848,  to  tender  to  that  body  the  Christian  regards  and  fraternal 
salutations  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

The  statistics  for  the  year  1846  are  as  follows: 


Traveling  preachers   1,519 

Local  preachers   2,833 

White  members  327,284 

Colored  members  124,961 

Indian  members   2,972 


Total  459, 569 


"Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1846,"  p.  97. 


50 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  iv. 


St.  Louis  was  selected  as  the  place  for  the  meeting  of 
the  General  Conference  of  1850.  "The  benediction  was 
solemnly  pronounced  by  the  venerable  senior  superintend- 
ent, Bishop  Soule,"  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  was  launched  upon  its  providential  and  useful 
career. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OPPOSITION  AND  FRICTION. 

WHILE  among  the  Southern  conferences  there  was  a 
practical  unanimity  of  sentiment  and  action  in  favor  of 
the  Louisville  Convention  and  in  indorsement  of  its  work, 
it  was  not  so  in  the  North.  Though  the  Plan  of  Separa- 
tion had  been  adopted  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  General  Conference  of  1844,  there  came  afterward  a 
reaction,  and  some  of  the  men  who  voted  for  it  and  who 
advocated  it,  drew  back  from  it  when  they  realized  that 
there  was  a  probability  of  its  being  carried  into  effect. 
Even  before  the  meeting  of  the  Louisville  Convention 
measures  were  taken  to  counteract  its  influence  and  fore- 
stall its  probable  conclusion.  In  particular,  the  editors  of 
the  two  leading  papers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
one  of  whom  had  moved  the  adoption  of  the  plan  and 
then  advocated  it  in  a  strong  speech,  labored  to  impress 
the  public  mind  unfavorably  with  regard  to  the  conven- 
tion. In  the  South,  however,  the  question  was  considered 
as  finally  settled,  and  the  general  desire  was  to  cultivate 
peace  with  the  Northern  portion  of  the  church.  This 
feeling  was  reciprocated  on  the  part  of  many  in  the 
North,  and  expressed  by  some  of  the  church  papers. 
The  editors  of  the  two  leading  church  papers,  however, 
after  the  convention,  became  more  pronounced  and  vigor- 
ous in  their  opposition  than  before,  claiming  and  holding 
that  the  Southern  organization  was  a  secession  if  not  a 
schism  of  the  worst  sort,  that  the  Louisville  Convention 

5i 


52 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  v. 


was  not  held  in  accordance  with  the  Plan  of  Separation, 
that  the  plan  itself  was  unconstitutional  and  void.  The 
venerable  Bishop  Soule  was  attacked  and  charged  with 
being  the  prime  agent  in  the  whole  movement.  Thfs  im- 
plication and  accusation  of  him  in  the  leading  papers  led 
to  such  a  complication  and  embarrassment  in  regard  to 
the  holding  of  conferences  that  it  was  thought  best,  in  July, 
1845,  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  bishops  to  determine  what 
should  be  done.  Bishops  Hedding,  Waugh,  Morris,  and 
Janes  were  present.  It  was  decided  that  it  would  be  best 
for  them  to  form  a  new  plan  of  episcopal  visitation,  not 
including  the  Southern  conferences.  In  addition  to  this, 
they  adopted  the  following  resolution  governing  their  own 
administration : 

Resolved,  That  the  plan  reported  by  a  select  committee  of  nine  at  the  last 
General  Conference,  and  adopted  by  that  body,  in  regard  to  a  distinct  ecclesi- 
astical connection,  should  such  a  course  be  found  necessary  by  the  Annual 
Conferences  in  the  slaveholding  States,  is  regarded  by  us  as  of  binding  obli- 
gation* in  the  premises,  so  far  as  our  own  administration  is  concerned. 

Edmund  S.  Janes,  Secretary. 

When  this  wise,  conservative,  and  just  action  of  the 
bishops  became  kno\vn/  it  had  a  decided  influence  in 
quieting  matters  and  in  settling  the  public  mind. 

These  sound  and  conservative  views  were  ably  seconded 
by  men  of  the  highest  standing  in  the  Northern  Connec- 
tion. Dr.  Bangs  and  Dr.  Olin  contended  that  the  faith 
and  honor  of  the  church  were  deeply  concerned  in  carry- 
ing out  the  Plan  of  Separation,  and  thereby  greatly  en- 
deared themselves  to  the  lovers  of  peace,  both  North  and 
South.  The  church  papers,  too,  with  the  exceptions  men- 
tioned, sanctioned  the  action  of  the  bishops  and  took  the 
same  honorable  ground.1 

Bishop  Morris  had  occasion,  on  being  invited  by  a 

1  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,"  p.  238. 


BISHOP  MORRIS'S  LETTER.  53 

minority  of  the  Missouri  Conference  to  take  charge  of 
them  and  preside  over  them  in  a  conference  capacity,  to 
write  a  letter  in  which  he  expounds  at  greater  length  his 
views  of  the  Plan  of  Separation  and  its  operation.  The 
letter  is  dated  Burlington,  la.,  September  8,  1845.  He 
closes  with  these  words : 

In  the  meantime  there  is  much  more  bad  feeling  indulged  in  respecting 
the  separation  than  there  is  any  necessity  for.  If  the  Plan  of  Separation  had 
been  carried  out  in  good  faith  and  Christian  feeling  on  both  sides,  it  would 
scarcely  have  been  felt  any  more  than  the  division  of  an  Annual  Conference. 
It  need  not  destroy  confidence  or  embarrass  the  work,  if  the  business  be 
managed  in  the  spirit  of  Christ.  I  trust  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
brethren,  North  and  South,  will  cease  their  hostilities  and  betake  themselves 
to  their  prayers  and  other  appropriate  duties  in  earnest.  Then,  and  not  till 
then,  may  we  expect  the  Lord  to  bless  us  as  in  former  days. 

Thos.  A.  Morris. 

The  conciliatory  action  of  the  bishops,  however,  and  the 
wise  and  pacific  words  of  Bishop  Morris  did  not  put  an 
end  to  the  reaction  which  was  going  on  in  the  North.  The 
Annual  Conferences,  though  giving  a  numerical  majority 
for  the  change  of  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule,  did  not  give 
the  requisite  three-fourths  vote,  and  the  rule  was  not 
changed.    The  numbers  are  as  follows : 

For  changing  the  rule  in  the  Northern  conferences  1,164 

In  the  Southern  conferences   971 

Total  2,135 

Against  changing  the  rule  1,070 

This,  of  course,  was  irritating  to  the  South.  The  South 
did  and  said  things  that  were  irritating  to  the  North.  The 
attempts  to  adjust  the  difficulties  of  the  border  conferences 
developed  a  great  deal  of  friction  and  ill  feeling.  It  was 
charged  that  there  were  infractions  of  the  plan  on  both 
sides,  and  perhaps  it  was  true.  It  was  a  time  of  political 
agitation,  excitement,  and  animosity  preceding  and  fol- 
lowing the  annexation  of  Texas,  as  a  slave  State,  to  the 


54 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  v. 


United  States.  The  culminating  point  was  reached  when 
the  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  in  Pittsburg 
in  1848,  by  a  very  large  majority,  declared  the  Plan  of 
Separation  null  and  void. 

This  General  Conference  also  refused  to  receive  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce  in  his  official  relation  as  fraternal  delegate 
from  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  though  extending  to  him 
"  all  personal  courtesies."    Their  action  was  as  follows: 

Whereas  there  are  serious  questions  and  difficulties  existing  between  the 
M.  E.  Church  and  the  M.  E.  Church,  South, 

Resolved,  That  while  we  tender  to  Rev.  Dr.  Pierce  all  personal  courtesies 
and  invite  him  to  attend  our  sessions,  the  General  Conference  does  not  con- 
sider it  proper,  at  present,  to  enter  into  fraternal  relations  with  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South. 

The  commissioners  of  the  Southern  Church,  appointed 
to  confer  with  the  authorities  of  the  M.  E.  Church  con- 
cerning the  adjustment  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
division  of  the  church  property  and  funds,  were  present 
at  the  General  Conference  of  1848,  and  reported  them- 
selves ready  for  negotiations.  The  conference  replied 
that  they  had  no  authority  independently  of  the  Annual 
Conference  to  enter  into  arbitration  with  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  in  relation  to  the 
claims  set  up  by  them  to  a  division  of  the  vested  funds  of 
the  M.  E.  Church. 

As  to  the  rejection  of  the  fraternal  delegate  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  at  Pittsburg,  in  1848,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  General  Conference  at  Brooklyn  in  1872  practically 
reversed  that  by  their  action  in  appointing  fraternal  del- 
egates to  the  Southern  General  Conference  at  Louisville 
in  1874.  Before  leaving  the  city  of  Pittsburg  in  1848,  the 
rejected  Southern  delegate  sent  a  communication  to  the 
General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  saying: 

The  M.  E.  Church,  South,  can  never  renew  the  offer  of  fraternal  relations 
between  the  two  great  bodies  of  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  the  United  States  ; 


LATER  ACTION  OF  M.  E.  CHURCH. 


55 


but  the  proposition  can  be  renewed  at  any  time,  either  now  or  hereafter,  by 
the  M.  E.  Church,  and  if  ever  made  upon  the  basis  of  the  Plan  of  Separation 
as  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  the  Church,  South,  will  cor- 
dially entertain  the  proposition. 

This  action  of  their  delegate  was  approved  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Southern  Church  in  1850  in  an  ex- 
plicit and  emphatic  resolution. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  in  May, 
1872,  after  various  preliminary  communications  and  ne- 
gotiations, appointed  a  delegation  of  two  distinguished 
ministers  and  one  distinguished  layman  to  convey  their 
"  fraternal  greetings  to  the  General  Conference  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  South,"  to  convene  in  May,  1874,  and  they 
were  "  received  with  pleasure." 

It  may  be  said  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
implicitly  nullified  their  nullification  of  the  Plan  of  Sepa- 
ration by  sending  fraternal  delegates  after  the  declaration 
contained  in  the  final  communication  of  the  rejected  South- 
ern delegate  in  1848,  as  well  as  by  the  declarations  of  the 
Cape  May  Commission  in  August,  1876. 

As  has  been  said,  the  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  in  1848  replied  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  South- 
ern Church  that  they  had  no  power  to  authorize  or  nego- 
tiate a  division  of  the  property  with  the  Southern  Church, 
without  the  concurrent  vote  of  the  Annual  Conferences. 
This  the  Annual  Conferences  had  refused  to  give.  The 
General  Conference  proposed,  however,  to  submit  once 
more  to  the  Annual  Conferences  a  recommendation  to 
change  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule  so  as  to  allow  the  claim 
of  the  Southern  Church  to  be  submitted  to  arbitration.  The 
commissioners  of  the  Southern  Church  saw  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  same  Annual  Conferences  that  had  once 
refused  to  change  the  Restrictive  Rule  in  their  favor,  would 
do  so  now.    Indeed,  it  was  practically  certain  that,  if  with 


56 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  v. 


the  vote  of  the  Southern  Conferences,  as  in  the  former 
case,1  the  resulting  vote  was  against  changing  the  Re- 
strictive Rule,  it  would  be  much  more  so  without  them. 
Believing  in  the  justice  of  their  claim,  and,  still  more,  desir- 
ing a  judicial  and  moral  vindication,  they  entered  suit  in 
1849,  m  the  United  States  Circuit  Courts  of  New  York  and 
Ohio,  for  the  recovery  of  their  pro  rata  portion  of  the 
property  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Cincinnati.  It  is 
a  sad  history,  but  history  it  is. 

1  See  p.  53. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SECOND  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  M.  E.  CHURCH, 

SOUTH. 

THE  second  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South,  was  held  in  the  year  1850,  in  Centenary  Church, 
in  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  It  had  been  a  stormy  quadren- 
nium.  The  church  had,  nevertheless,  passed  through  it 
without  suffering  serious  damage  or  discouragement.  To 
be  sure,  it  was  a  matter  of  unceasing  regret  that  they 
had  not  been  able  to  live  on  terms  of  Christian  and 
fraternal  communion  with  the  other  portion  of  the  great 
M.  E.  Church  of  which  they  had  once  been  a  part.  They 
labored  under  the  double  disadvantage  of  separation  from 
the  fellowship  of  their  former  brethren  and  proscription 
by  them,  and  of  exclusion  from  participation  in  the  mate- 
rial resources  which  through  half  a  century  and  more  their 
united  efforts,  gifts,  and  sacrifices  had  gathered  together. 
But  they  had  not  labored  altogether  in  vain.  There  had 
been  an  increase  of  48,236  white  and  10,633  colored  mem- 
bers. They  had  now  a  total  membership  of  over  half  a 
million,  or,  in  exact  figures,  520,256;  an  increase  of  60,685 
during  the  quadrennium. 

The  address  of  the  bishops  calls  attention  to  the  state 
and  needs  of  the  church,  to  the  trials  and  tribulations  of 
the  past  four  years,  and  to  the  work  already  accomplished, 
as  well  as  to  the  expanding  opportunities  and  increasing 
responsibilities  of  the  church  for  the  time  to  come. 

In  1848,  two  missionaries  had  been  appointed  and  sent 

57 


58 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  vt. 


out  by  the  bishops  to  China — Rev.  Benjamin  Jenkins  and 
Rev.  Charles  Taylor,  M.D.,  both  of  the  South  Carolina 
Conference.  They  had  begun  their  work  in  the  great 
city  of  Shanghai.  They  had  purchased  a  lot  and  erected 
missionary  residences  and  a  church  in  that  city,  and  were 
preaching  the  gospel. 

The  work  of  the  church  among  the  Indians  had  been 
annually  enlarging  in  extent  and  increasing  in  interest. 
The  number  of  Indian  members  had  increased  from  2972 
in  1846  to  3487  in  1850. 

The  missions  to  the  slave  population  of  the  Southern 
plantations  continued,  in  a  very  eminent  degree,  to  share 
the  sympathies  of  the  church  and  the  blessing  of  God. 
The  Southern  Church  recognized  this  as  their  special 
mission.  To  it  they  felt  themselves  especially  called, 
and  they  felt  and  confessed  that  "  woe  would  be  to  the 
church,  if  they  neglected  it."  As  the  result  of  their 
efforts  among  this  "  servile  progeny  of  Ham,"  they  had 
added  nearly  11,000  of  them  to  the  roll  of  the  sons  of 
God. 

In  1848,  California  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  and 
soon  afterward  followed  the  discovery  of  gold  in  that  dis- 
tant and  unknown  territory.  The  excitement  produced 
throughout  the  country  by  this  event  was  intense,  and 
thousands  of  people  from  all  quarters  flocked  thither  to 
find  their  fortune  in  that  favored  land.  It  was  filling  up 
with  a  rapidity  perhaps  unequaled  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  bishops  of  the  Southern  Church,  feeling  that 
they  shared  in  the  responsibility  of  leavening  this  mass  of 
humanity  with  the  gospel,  and  urged  by  Southern  emi- 
grants to  California,  judged  it  their  "  duty  to  send  mis- 
sionaries to  unfurl  their  banner  in  that  distant  and  inter- 
esting portion  of  the  great  republic."  Accordingly,  they 
appointed  Rev.  Dr.  Boring  and  Rev.  A.  M.  Wynn,  of 


THE  PROPERTY  QUESTION. 


59 


Georgia,  and  Rev.  W.  D.  Pollock,  of  St.  Louis,  as  mission- 
aries to  California.  They  sailed  for  San  Francisco  by  way 
of  Panama  in  February,  1850,  well  supplied  with  standard 
Methodist  literature,  Sunday-school  publications,  and  copies 
of  the  Bible,  furnished  by  the  American  Bible  Society. 
"  Their  progress  exceeded  their  own  expectations."  Cir- 
cuits were  formed  and  members  enrolled  and  classed,  and 
though,  in  the  absence  of  pastors,  much  of  the  work  pro- 
jected fell  through,  by  and  by  "  the  church  moved  up  to 
this  sudden  demand,  and  California  was  supplied  with 
preachers  as  well  as  gold-diggers." 

The  commissioners,  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the 
authorities  of  the  M.  E.  Church  concerning  the  division 
of  the  property,  reported  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1850  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  at  Pittsburg  in  the  premises,  and  their  own  subse- 
quent application  to  the  civil  courts  for  the  adjustment  of 
the  claim,  and  were  instructed  to  prosecute  the  claim  until 
the  final  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  was  rendered  in  the  suits  then  pending.  In  the 
suit  brought  in  New  York  the  case  was  argued  by  D. 
Lord  and  Reverdy  Johnson  for  the  claimants,  and  by  the 
able  and  distinguished  Rufus  Choate,  G.  Wood,  and  E.  L. 
Fancher,  afterward  a  Cape  May  commissioner,  for  the 
defendants.  The  opinion  of  the  court  was  delivered  on 
November  1 1,  1851,  and  was  in  favor  of  the  claimants  on 
every  material  point.  The  suit  in  Ohio  to  recover  their 
interest  in  the  property  at  Cincinnati,  was  decided  ad- 
versely to  the  Church,  South,  in  July,  1852.  The  text 
of  this  decision  is  quoted  in  full  in  Curtiss's  "  Manual  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  History,"  pp.  201,  202.  The 
commissioners  of  the  Church,  South,  appealed  from  the 
decision  of  the  Court  in  Ohio  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  judgment  of  the  Ohio  Court 


6o 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  vi. 


was  reversed  by  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  highest 
tribunal  in  the  land,  in  April,  1854. 

The  journals  of  the  General  Conferences  of  1844,  1846,  1848,  and  of  the 
Louisville  Convention  of  1845  were  before  the  court.  The  Discipline  figured 
largely  before  Caesar,  and  great  lawyers,  prompted  by  Bangs  and  Peck  on 
the  one  side,  and  by  Smith  and  Green  on  the  other,  made  themselves 
minutely  acquainted  with  the  genius  and  details  of  Episcopal  Methodist 
government.  They  had  a  patient  hearing  before  a  bench  renowned  in  juris- 
prudence and  accustomed  to  construe  contracts.1 

Henry  B.  Bascom  was  elected  bishop  at  the  General 
Conference  of  1850,  and  David  S.  Doggett  was  elected 
editor  of  the  "  Quarterly  Review."  It  was  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  his  own  ordination  that  he  delivered  his  memorable 
sermon  on  "  Glorying  in  the  Cross  "  (Gal.  vi.  14).  He  lived, 
however,  to  hold  only  one  Annual  Conference,  the  St.  Louis, 
at  Independence,  Mo.,  July,  1850.  He  died  in  September 
of  the  same  year,  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

The  career  of  Henry  B.  Bascom  as  preacher,  educator,  and  author  was 
brilliant ;  and  as  bishop,  brief.  The  son  of  poor  parents,  his  heritage  was 
toil  and  privation.  His  school  advantages  ended  in  his  twelfth  year,  and  he 
was  making  pumps  for  a  living  at  fifteen.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was 
admitted  into  the  traveling 'connection  in  Ohio.  Hard  circuits  were  his 
portion  and  probation  for  a  long  time,  yet  no  pulpit  orator  in  his  day  had  an 
equal  fame.  He  preached  at  the  General  Conference  of  1840,  and  one  who 
was  present  describes  the  sermon  thus  : 

"  He  preached  in  the  Light  Street  Church  to  as  dense  a  throng  as  could 
crowd  into  the  spacious  building,  while  the  adjoining  street  was  filled  with 
people  who  could  not  find  entrance.  His  text  was,  '  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.'  The  sermon  embraced  all 
the  cardinal  elements  of  the  Christian  system,  set  forth  in  a  light  so  vivid, 
under  illustrations  so  magnificent,  and  with  a  vehemence  so  rushing  and 
pauseless,  as  to  hold  the  vast  audience  spellbound.  At  particular  passages, 
several  of  which  we  distinctly  remember,  the  effect  was  awful.  The  sen- 
tences came  like  the  sharp  zigzag  lightning;  the  tones  of  the  preacher's 
voice  were  like  articulate  thunder.  The  hearer  cowered  under  the  weight  of 
thought  piled  on  thought,  and  was  driven  almost  beside  himself  by  the  rapid 
whirl  of  dazzling  imagery.  The  audience  was  bewildered  by  the  quick  suc- 
cession of  vivid  pictures  thrown  off  as  by  the  turr  of  a  grand  kaleidoscope." 2 

1  McTyeire's  "  Historv,"  p.  648. 

2  Dr.  W.  M.  Wightman,  in  "  Southern  Christian  Advocate." 


BISHOP  BASCOM. 


6l 


But  it  was  a  popular  error  that  his  superiority  lay  in  speaking  only.  His 
ecclesiastical  state  papers  are  of  the  very  first  rank.  He  wrote  the  Protest 
in  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  and  he  wrote  other  papers  which  are 
models  of  mental  grasp  and  perspicuity  and  force. 

His  devotion  to  his  father  in  sickness  and  poverty  was  beautiful.  He  cut 
and  hauled  wood  from  the  forest  for  the  use  of  the  household,  and,  to  make 
himself  a  wakeful  nurse,  he  slept  on  a  bench  with  a  block  of  wood  for  his 
pillow.  After  holding  the  St.  Louis  Conference  he  returned  to  St.  Louis 
and  preached  on  Sunday,  greatly  exhausting  himself,  and  soon  after,  he  died, 
with  this  testimony:  "  All  my  trust  and  confidence  is  in  Almighty  Goodness 
as  revealed  in  the  cross  of  Christ."  1 

l  McTyeire's  "  History." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  GENERAL  CONFERENCES 
OF  THE  M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH. 

THE  third  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South,  was  held  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  in  May,  1854.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  nineteen  delegates  in  attendance, 
and  among  them  we  notice  for  the  first  time  the  names  of 
some  who  were  afterward  to  become  distinguished  in  the 
history  of  the  church:  E.  M.  Marvin,  H.  N.  McTyeire, 
and  John  C.  Keener,  as  bishops,  and  Dr.  E.  E.  Wiley,  as 
the  president  of  Emory  and  Henry  College.  Among  the 
delegates  we  note  also  for  the  second  time  the  name  of 
Charles  F.  Deems,  who  afterward,  in  1866,  became  the 
distinguished  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Strangers  in 
New  York  City,  and  so  remained  until  his  death. 

Notwithstanding  the  unfortunate  litigation  of  the  period 
and  the  sorrowful  and  bitter  newspaper  controversies 
that  attended  it,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  ministry  and 
membership  of  the  church  had  given  themselves  to  their 
proper  work,  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  of  the  vineyard 
had  attended  their  efforts.  There  was  a  very  considerable 
and,  in  view  of  the  state  of  the  church  and  country,  a 
very  gratifying  increase  in  the  membership.  The  follow- 
ing figures  will  show  the  comparative  membership  of  1850 
and  1854 : 

Traveling       Local  White  Colored         Indian  Total, 

preachers,    preachers.      members.         members.  members. 

1850.  ...  1,700         3,955         375.520         135.594         3.487  520,256 
1854.  ..  .2,092         4,359         428,501          164,584         3,757  603,303 
The  total  increase  of  the  quadrennium  was  83,047. 
62 


THE  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 


63 


The  commissioners  who  were  charged  with  the  property 
question  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  churches, 
reported  at  the  conference  of  1854,  that  the  suits  had 
been  decided  in  favor  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South.  The 
church  was  now  in  a  position  to  establish  a  publishing- 
house  of  its  own,  which  accordingly  was  done  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1854.  Louisville,  Memphis,  Atlanta, 
St.  Louis,  Richmond,  and  Columbus  were  voted  for  on  the 
first  three  or  four  ballots,  but  on  the  sixth  ballot  Nashville 
received  60  out  of  117  votes,  and  was  selected,  while 
Louisville  received  57.  This  establishment  was  for  the 
purpose  of  manufacturing  and  publishing  books,  and  was 
to  be  under  the  control  of  two  agents  and  a  book  com- 
mittee. The  object  of  the  institution  was  to  advance  the 
cause  of  Christianity  by  disseminating  religious  knowledge 
and  useful  literary  and  scientific  information  in  cheap  books, 
tracts,  and  periodicals.  The  agents  were  authorized  to  in- 
vest as  much  as  $75,000  in  grounds,  house,  and  fixtures. 
Rev.  Edward  Stevenson  and  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen  were  elected 
the  first  agents  of  the  house. 

The  membership  in  the  State  of  Arkansas  had  increased 
so  as  to  justify  a  new  conference,  which  was  provided  for 
by  the  General  Conference  of  1854.  It  was  organized  by 
Bishop  Kavanaugh  at  Washington,  Ark.,  in  November  of 
the  same  year.  The  Kansas  Mission  Conference  was  also 
provided  for  by  the  General  Conference  of  1854,  and  was 
to  include  Kansas  Territory  and  part  of  the  Territory  of 
New  Mexico. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  a  few  months  after  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  episcopacy,  Bishop  Bascom  had  died.  Bishop 
Soule  was  now  seventy-three  years  of  age,  and  in  very 
feeble  health.  Bishop  Andrew  and  Bishop  Capers,  coming 
from  the  previous  century,  were  also  men  well  advanced 
in  years,  and  worn  with  long,  laborious,  and  exhausting 


64 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  vii. 


toil.  The  remaining  superintendent,  Bishop  Paine,  was  in 
the  prime  of  a  robust  and  vigorous  manhood,  but  he  needed 
relief  and  assistance  in  the  widening  range  of  episcopal  re- 
sponsibility and  duty.  It  was  decided  to  strengthen  the 
episcopacy  by  the  addition  of  three  bishops.  The  choice 
of  the  conference  fell  on  George  F.  Pierce,  of  Georgia,  John 
Early,  of  Virginia,  and  Hubbard  H.  Kavanaugh,  of  Ken- 
tucky. And  they  were  ordained  in  the  Methodist  Church 
in  Columbus,  Ga.,  on  Wednesday,  May  24,  1854. 

The  General  Conference  of  1858  was  opened  on  the 
first  day  of  May,  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, in  the  capitol,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  The  publishing- 
house,  which  was  projected  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1854  and  located  at  Nashville,  had  been  completed  and 
was  in  operation.  This  fact  determined  the  future  rank 
and  destiny  of  Nashville  as  the  ecclesiastical  center  of 
Southern  Methodism.  It  was  right  and  proper  that  the 
General  Conference  should  now  convene  in  the  city  which 
their  choice  had  selected  as  the  base  of  their  supplies  and 
the  headquarters  of  their  ecclesiastical  operation's.  Ac- 
cordingly, toward  the  end  of  April,  1858,  from  all  quarters 
of  the  South,  by  steamboat  and  railroad  and  stage-coach, 
the  delegates  came  up  to  the  great  quadrennial  represent- 
ative convocation.  There  were  present  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  duly  accredited  members — only  twenty-nine  less 
than  the  full  number  of  delegates  at  the  last  and  largest 
General  Conference  of  the  undivided  church  in  1844,  and 
twenty-one  more  than  were  present  at  the  preceding  and 
next  largest  General  Conference  of  the  undivided  church 
in  1840. 

Six  of  the  seven  bishops  who  signed  the  journal  of  the 
Conference  of  1854  were  present:  Joshua  Soule,  J.  O. 
Andrew,  R.  Paine,  G.  F.  Pierce,  John  Early,  H.  H.  Kava- 
naugh.   The  saintly  Capers,  after  a  life  of  singular  purity, 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISES. 


fidelity,  and  usefulness,  had  finished  his  course  with  joy, 
had  laid  his  armor  by,  and  had  gone  to  join  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  firstborn,  whose  names  are 
written  in  heaven;  and  his  name,  disappearing  from  the 
rolls  and  journals  of  the  church  on  earth,  was  written 
with  theirs  on  high.  The  memory  of  his  self-sacrificing 
devotion  to  the  good  of  men,  poor  and  rich,  black  and 
white,  is  like  ointment  poured  forth  through  all  the  South- 
ern church  and  land. 

The  address  of  the  bishops  reminds  the  assembled  rep- 
resentatives of  the  church  that  "  the  work  of  God  has 
greatly  prospered  and  enlarged  within  our  bounds.  God 
has  done  great  things  for  us  and  by  us.  The  retrospect 
of  the  last  four  years  is  full  of  instruction  and  encourage- 
ment; and  yet  how  much  more  might  have  been  accom- 
plished had  we  been  faithful  to  the  grace  of  God  received, 
and  zealous  in  diffusing  that  grace  abroad." 

While  the  usual  and  due  prominence  was  given  to  the 
missionary  work  among  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  planta- 
tions, which  the  address  of  the  bishops  declares  to  be  "  the 
crowning  glory  of  our  church,"  the  attention  of  the  church 
was  called  to  the  outlying  regions,  and  measures  were 
adopted  to  extend  its  operations  in  as  many  ways  and 
directions  as  possible.  The  General  Conference  at  this 
session  provided  for  the  organization  of  the  Rio  Grande 
Mission  Conference,  and  recommended  to  the  bishops  the 
establishment  of  a  mission  in  Central  America  at  the  ear- 
liest practicable  day,  and  by  resolution  requested  the 
bishops  and  the  board  of  missions,  in  the  event  of  provi- 
dential indications,  "  to  proceed  at  once  to  organize  a 
mission  at  such  a  point  in  Africa  as  they  shall  judge,  most 
expedient." 

And  yet,  while  laying  their  plans  for  more  extended 
and  efficient  missionary  operations  among  the  slaves  of 


66 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  vii. 


the  South  and  for  founding  a  mission  among  the  benighted 
blacks 

Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 
Roll  down  their  golden  sands, 

thus  manifesting  a  peculiar  and  special  interest  in  this 
race,  whom  at  least  they  knew  better  than  others,  this 
General  Conference  adopted  a  measure  which  at  first  sight 
will  seem  utterly  enigmatical  and  contradictory.  On  May 
19th,  after  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  a  resolution  was 
adopted,  by  a  majority  of  a  hundred  and  forty-one  to 
seven,  to  the  effect  that  the  rule  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
be  expunged  from  the  general  rules  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South ;  and  the  bishops  were  instructed 
to  lay  the  resolution  before  the  Annual  Conferences  for 
their  concurrent  action.  Those  who  passed  this  measure 
may  give  their  own  reasons  for  it : 

The  Southern  Church  has  avowed  as  their  settled  belief  and  sentiment  that 
slavery  is  not  a  subject  of  ecclesiastical  legislation.  It  is  not  the  province  of 
the  church  to  deal  with  civil  institutions  in  her  legislative  capacity.  This  is 
our  position.  The  primary  single  object  of  this  action  is  to  conform  the 
Discipline  to  that  profession.  In  the  Twenty-third  Article  of  Religion  in 
our  Book  of  Discipline  we  recognize  the  Constitution  and  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  obedience  to  them  as  a  religious  duty,  and  pledge 
ourselves,  in  our  very  profession  of  faith,  to  fidelity  to  the  country  and  her 
authority.  We  claim  to  be  loyal  citizens.  We  have  only  set  ourselves  right 
on  the  question  that  has  so  long  troubled  the  church.  The  legislation  in 
reference  to  it  was  contradictory  and  absurd.  While  denouncing  slavery  as 
an  evil  and  pledging  the  church  to  its  extirpation,  it  provided  by  statute  for 
its  allowance  and  perpetuation.  We  have  surrendered  to  Coesar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's,  and,  holding  ourselves  to  be  debtors  to  the  wise  and  the 
unwise,  the  bond  and  the  free,  we  can  now  preach  Christ  alike  to  the  master 
and  the  servant,  cecure  in  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  one  and  the 
other.  The  benign  spirit  of  our  holy  religion  not  only  demands  that  masters 
should  render  to  their  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal  as  to  food,  rai- 
ment, and  shelter,  but  that  religious  instruction  should  be  provided  alike  for 
servants  as  for  children.  The  gospel  is  God's  gift  to  the  black  man  as  well 
as  to  the  white,  and  Christian  masters  should  see  to  it  that  all  their  depend- 
ents  are  regularly  supplied  with  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and  all  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Church  of  God.    The  salvation  of  the  colored  race  in  our  midst, 


BISHOP  PAINE' S  "LIFE  OF  McKENDREE."  67 

as  far  as  human  instrumentality  can  secure  it,  is  the  primary  duty  of  the 
Southern  Church.  Let  us  earnestly  seek  to  meet  our  responsibilities,  and 
then,  whatever  evil  thing  may  be  said  of  us,  we  shall  have  the  testimony  of  a 
good  conscience  and  the  blessing  of  Him  who  is  judge  of  all.1 

It  does  seem  that  this  action  deserves  at  least  the  credit 
of  consistency.  The  only  consistent  alternative  was  to 
refuse  to  receive  slaveholders  into  the  church  at  all,  and 
to  exclude  those  that  were  already  in.  If  the  Methodist 
Church  had  adopted  this  rule  in  the  beginning,  all  the  con- 
flict and  strife  on  this  subject  might  have  been  avoided, 
though  it  may  be  questioned  whether  its  influence  and 
work  and  usefulness  would  have  been  as  extensive.  Indeed, 
it  is  practically  certain  that,  in  that  case,  the  Metnodist 
Church  would  have  had  very  little  success  in  the  South. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1858  Bishop  Paine  re- 
ported that  the  manuscript  of  his  "  Life  and  Times  of 
Bishop  McKendree "  was  ready  for  publication.  The 
church  now  has  this  memorable  production  in  enduring 
form.  And  though  Bishop  McKendree  was  second  only 
to  Asbury  in  his  influence  on  American  Methodism,  North 
and  South,  if  indeed  he  was  second  to  him,  yet  .as  he  was 
a  son  of  the  South  it  was  fitting  that  a  son  of  the  South 
should  write  his  biography.  The  book  is  worthy  of  its  sub- 
ject; and  it  is  declared  by  those  competent  to  judge,  to  be, 
incidentally,  the  best  extant  history  of  the  origin  and  growth 
of  the  constitution  of  American  Episcopal  Methodism. 

Much  attention  was  given  to  the  new  publishing-house 
by  the  General  Conference  of  1858,  and  that  man  of  re- 
sources, tact,  and  uncommon  sense,  John  B.  McFerrin, 
was  put  at  its  head  as  agent  for  the  next  quadrennium, 
with  R.  Abbey  as  financial  secretary. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  education  was  an  in- 
teresting document.    It  contained  an  exhaustive  list  of  the 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1858,"  pp.  461,  584. 


68 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH  [Chap.  vii. 


colleges  and  schools  under  the  patronage  of  the  church. 
As  long  ago  as  1858  a  charter  was  obtained  from  the 
legislature  of  Tennessee  for  the  Central  University  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  This  university, 
however,  never  came  into  existence.  In  two  short  years 
after  this  the  country  was  filled  with  rumors  of  war,  and 
the  best  laid  plans  of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church  for 
establishing  missions  in  Central  America  and  in  Africa  and 
for  founding  a  great  university  came  to  naught. 

The  growth  of  the  church  for  the  preceding  four  years 
is  shown  by  the  following  figures: 

Traveling      Local  White  Colored         Indian  rp  , 

preachers,    preachers.      members.         members.  members. 

1854.  ...  2,092         4,359         428,511  164,584         3,757  603,303 

1858.  ..  .2,577         4,984         499^94         188,036         3,874  699,165 

showing    total  increase  of  95,862. 

The  next  tabulation  will  show  a  suggestive  and  sor- 
rowful decrease. 

Thomas  O.  Summers  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Quar- 
terly Review."  L.  D.  Huston  was  elected  editor  of  "The 
Home  Circle."  H.  N.  McTyeire  was  elected  editor  of  the 
"  Nashville  Christian  Advocate  "  in  the  place  of  J.  B. 
McFerrin  ;  and  the  career  of  O.  P.  Fitzgerald  as  an  editor 
began  at  the  General  Conference  of  1858.  He  was  elected 
editor  of  the  "  Pacific  Methodist  "  by  "  a  rising  and  unani- 
mous vote."   E.  W.  Sehon  was  elected  missionary  secretary. 

New  Orleans  was  selected  as  the  place  for  the  meeting 
of  the  General  Conference  of  1862.  Little  did  the  dele- 
gates dream  of  the  events  and  changes  that  were  to  take 
place  in  the  interval — that  the  whole  country  would  be 
convulsed  with  civil  war,  and  that  in  the  very  month 
before  they  were  to  meet  in  New  Orleans  that  city  would 
be  occupied  by  an  invading,  hostile  army. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


SOME  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  WAR  PERIOD. 

THE  statistical  returns  for  the  year  i860  show  that  up 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  Southern  Church  kept  on 
the  even  tenor  of  its  way,  extending  its  operations  and  in- 
creasing its  membership  from  all  classes  of  its  population, 
whites,  blacks,  and  Indians.  In  that  year  she  had  en- 
rolled 537,136  white  members,  an  increase  of  37,442  over 
the  year  1858;  207,776  colored  members,  an  increase  of 
19,740  over  the  year  1858;  and  4160  Indian  members,  an 
increase  of  286  over  1858.  The  total  membership  of  the 
church  in  i860  was  over  three  quarters  of  a  million,  or,  in 
exact  figures,  757,205,  a  total  increase  of  56,040  in  the 
two  preceding  years. 

All  the  interests  of  the  church  were  in  a  flourishing 
condition.  The  Publishing  House,  under  the  efficient 
management  of  John  B.  McFerrin,  had  developed  a  large 
business,  and  continued  to  prosper  up  to  the  time  when 
the  Federal  army  entered  Nashville  in  1862.  It  was  then 
taken  by  the  military  and  used  for  a  United  States  print- 
ing-office and  other  purposes.  Much  of  the  stock  and 
material  was  used  up,  and  the  machinery  greatly  damaged. 

In  the  matter  of  education,  the  statistics  show  that  up 
to  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Southern  Church  had 
multiplied,  with  commendable  zeal,  her  schools  and  colleges 
for  both  sexes  over  the  vast  extent  of  her  territory,  from 
ocean  to  ocean  and  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf,  in  whose 
halls  her  youth  were  regularly  receiving  the  benefits  of 
scholastic  training,  entering  and  returning  in  perpetual 

69 


70 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  vhi. 


succession.  In  1858  she  had  in  successful  operation  106 
schools  and  colleges. 

But  during  the  war,  professors,  teachers,  and  students 
were  withdrawn  from  the  seats  of  learning,  their  halls  were 
vacated,  schools  were  deserted,  text-books  and  apparatus 
were  abandoned,  college  endowments  were  swept  away, 
patrons  were  impoverished.  Hundreds  of  schools  as  well 
as  churches  were  burned  or  dismantled  by  use  as  hospitals, 
warehouses,  or  stables.  The  ghastly  devastations  left  in 
the  track  of  invading  armies,  the  horrors  of  two  thousand 
battles,1  the  portentous  rumors  and  the  agonizing  anxieties 
that  are  incident  to  war — these  were  the  portion  of  the 
South  through  four  long  and  sorrowful  years.  And  yet 
in  the  midst  of  these  scenes  and  these  sorrows  the  preach- 
ers of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church,  as  a  rule,  continued 
faithful  to  their  holy  calling  and  their  heaven-appointed 
work.  They  filled  their  appointments  much  as  of  old. 
They  preached,  they  exhorted,  they  prayed,  they  held 
protracted  meetings,  they  attended,  with  some  exceptions, 
their  Annual  Conferences.  And  during  those  trying  years 
gracious  revivals  of  religion  among  the  people  attested 
how  the  divine  presence  was  still  in  their  midst.-  Not 
among  the  people  only,  but  in  many  places  among  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Lost  Cause,  the  gospel  was  faithfully  preached, 
and  the  Lord  confirmed  it  with  signs  following. 

The  writer  will  be  excused  for  introducing  here  some 
perhaps  lengthy  extracts  from  the  war  diary  of  a  chaplain 
in  the  Confederate  army.  They  are  interesting,  as  well 
for  the  vivid  pictures  of  war  times  and  war  scenes  drawn 
by  an  eye-witness,  as  for  the  account  of  the  remarkable 
work  of  grace  among  the  soldiers,  which  they  contain. 
And  that  chaplain  was  John  B.  McFerrin. 

1  Official  reports  of  Surgeon-General  Barnes  give  2  no. 

2  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1866,"  pp.  16,  ff. 


REVIVALS  IN  THE  ARMY. 


71 


When  the  Federal  army  occupied  Middle  Tennessee  in  1862,  I  took  my 
family  south  of  the  lines  and  stopped  at  Cornersville,  Tenn.,  leaving  house 
and  furniture  in  the  hands  of  others.  A  little  later  I  went  to  Atlanta,  Ga., 
to  meet  the  bishops  and  the  Board  of  Missions.  While  there  I  was  cut  off 
from  my  family.  It  was  a  sad  and  sorrowful  day.  I  was  in  Georgia,  my 
wife  and  children  away  from  their  home  in  Tennessee.  We  were  ignorant 
of  each  other's  whereabouts  or  condition.  General*Bragg's  raid  into  Ken- 
tucky drew  the  Federal  army  out  of  Middle  Tennessee,  and  I  returned  to 
Cornersville,  where  the  Tennessee  Conference  was  to  be  held  on  the  15th  of 
October,  1862.  No  bishop  being  present,  I  was  elected  president  of  the 
conference,  and  conducted  the  business  to  the  end.  The  attendance  was 
tolerably  full,  though  some  of  the  brethren  were  too  far  north  to  reach  the 
place.  At  a  meeting  of  the  bishops  and  Missionary  Board,  April,  1863,  at 
Macon,  Ga.,  it  was  determined  to  send  missionaries  to  the  Confederate  army. 
I  was  appointed  in  charge  of  all  the  Methodist  missionary  work  in  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee.  I  entered  immediately  on  my  work  in  the  army,  and  as 
fast  as  I  could,  I  engaged  as  many  preachers  as  I  thought  the  Missionary 
Society  could  sustain.  I  began  my  work  in  Shelbyville.  I  was  hailed  with 
pleasure  by  the  officers  and  soldiers.  For  some  time  I  remained  about 
Shelbyville  and  the  adjoining  neighborhoods,  preaching  day  and  night.  A 
great  work  of  grace  had  commenced  in  many  of  the  commands,  and  the  chap- 
lains and  preachers  in  the  neighborhood  were  actively  engaged  in  the  precious 
revival  that  was  springing  up  in  almost  every  direction.  On  May  17,  1863, 
IO  A.M.,  I  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  Church:  house  crowded  with  officers 
and  Soldiers  ;  serious  attention.  At  three  o'clock,  I  preached  in  Bates'  bri- 
gade:  a  very  good  time;  revival  in  the  brigade.  May  19th,  I  preached  in 
B.  Johnson's  brigade :  thirty  to  forty  mourners ;  glorious  work  in  this  com- 
mand. May  20th,  I  preached  in  General  Polk's  brigade :  many  mourners  ; 
several  conversions.  May  21st,  I  preached  in  General  Wood's  brigade:  forty 
to  fifty  mourners  ;  fifteen  or  twenty  conversions.  May  22d,  I  spoke  in  Gen- 
eral Riddle's  brigade  :  a  great  work  here ;  already  more  than  one  hundred  con- 
versions in  this  command.  So  the  work  went  on.  But  in  June  I  was  taken 
sick,  and  remained  unfit  for  work  till  August,  when  I  joined  the  army  again 
at  Chattanooga,  and  on  August  14th  preached  in  General  Wright's  brigade. 
There  were  five  conversions  that  night,  among  them  a  captain.  From  this 
till  September  19th  I  was  constantly  engaged  in  preaching,  visiting,  and 
holding  prayer-meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  army,  and  many  precious 
souls  were  converted  during  this  revival.  On  September  19th  and  20th  the 
great  battle  was  fought  at  Chickamauga,  fifteen  miles  from  Chattanooga. 
The  slaughter  was  tremendous  on  both  sides,  but  the  Confederates  held  the 
field.  I  remained  on  the  battlefield  eleven  days,  nursing  the  sick,  ministering 
to  the  wounded,  and  praying  for  the  dying.  The  sight  was  awful.  Thou- 
sands of  men  killed  and  wounded.  They  lay  thick  all  around,  shot  in  every 
possible  manner,  and  the  wounded  dying  every  day.  Among  the  wounded 
were  many  Federal  soldiers.    To  these  I  ministered,  prayed  with  them,  and 


72 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  viii. 


wrote  letters  by  flag  of  truce  to  their  friends  in  the  North.  They  seemed  to 
appreciate  every  act  of  kindness. 

The  Federals  occupied  Chattanooga,  and  for  weeks  the  two  armies  were 
in  full  view  of  each  other.  All  along  the  foot  of  Missionary  Ridge  we 
preached  almost  every  night  to  crowded  assemblies,  and  many  precious  souls 
were  brought  to  God.  After  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge  the  Confederate 
army  retreated  and  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Dalton,  Ga.  During  these 
many  months  the  chaplains  and  missionaries  were  at  work — preaching,  visit- 
ing the  sick,  and  distributing  Bibles,  tracts,  and  religious  newspapers.  There 
was  preaching  in  Dalton  every  night  but  four,  for  four  months ;  and  in  the 
camps  all  around  the  city  preaching  and  prayer-meetings  occurred  every 
night.  The  soldiers  erected  stands,  improvised  seats,  and  even  built  log 
churches,  where  they  worshiped  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  result  was 
that  thousands  were  happily  converted  and  were  prepared  for  the  future  that 
awaited  them.  Officers  and  men  alike  were  brought  under  religious  influence. 
In  all  my  life,  perhaps,  I  never  witnessed  more  displays  of  God's  power  in 
the  awakening  and  conversion  of  sinners  than  in  these  protracted  meetings 
during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1863-64.  The  preachers  of  the  various 
denominations  were  alike  zealous;  our  army  ministerial  associations  were 
pleasant,  and  at  our  meetings  we  had  precious  seasons  of  joy  and  rejoicing 
while  recounting  the  victories  of  the  cross.  In  May,  1864,  I  left  the  army 
and  went  to  Montgomery,  Ala.,  to  meet  the  bishops  and  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. All  resolved  to  maintain  the  work  of  religion  in  the  army.  Hearing 
that  the  armies  had  commenced  hostilities  near  Dalton,  I  left  on  the  first 
train  for  the  place  of  conflict,  and  resumed  my  work  among  the  soldiefs.  At 
Atlanta  a  gentleman  gave  me  a  bolt  of  blue  linen.  I  had  a  suit  made  of 
it  for  the  warm  weather.  It  was  pleasant,  but  attracted  much  attention. 
When  General  Johnston  evacuated  Atlanta,  he  was  relieved  of  his  command 
and  General  Hood  made  chief  commander.  He  at  once  resolved  to  march 
into  Middle  Tennessee,  and  so  cut  off  the  supplies  of  the  Federal  army  in 
Georgia.  During  all  this  marching  and  fighting  we  kept  up  religious  ser- 
vices wherever  it  was  possible  to  collect  the  men  together.  From  May  to 
September  the  army  was  in  motion,  and  I  might  say  every  foot  of  ground  was 
contested.  Thousands  were  slain  in  battle  or  died  of  sickness.  I  visited  the 
hospitals,  and  preached,  with  the  missionaries  and  chaplains,  wherever  it  was 
possible  to  do  so.  At  Tuscumbia  and  Florence  for  two  weeks  we  had  re- 
freshing seasons.  Large  congregations  assembled  in  the  churches  and  in 
camp,  many  souls  were  converted,  and  Christians  were  made  to  rejoice.  This 
seemed  a  preparation  for  the  disasters  that  followed.  The  army  moved 
on  to  Franklin,  Tenn.,  where  occurred  the  most  bloody  battle  of  the  war  in 
proportion  to  the  numbers  engaged.  The  fight  began  late  in  the  afternoon 
of  November  30th,  and  continued  till  a  late  hour  in  the  night.  The  slaughter 
was  terrible  on  both  sides.  The  Federals  were  strongly  fortified,  and  the 
Confederates  fought  in  an  open  field.  They  charged  the  breastworks  several 
times,  and  hundreds  were  shot  down  while  the  muzzles  of  their  muskets  rested 


"THE  ARMY  CHURCH"  OF  BISHOP  MARVIN.  73 


on  the  head-logs  of  the  fortifications.  By  sunrise  next  morning  I  was  passing 
through  the  heaps  of  slain  soldiers,  having  spent  the  night  at  the  field-hos- 
pital. Such  a  scene  I  never  before  looked  upon.  I  had  witnessed  more 
extensive  battles,  but  here  the  dead  lay  in  heaps.  The  sight  was  sickening, 
heart-rending,  horrible,  awful.  Never  before  had  I  been  so  fully  impressed 
with  the  cruelty  of  war,  notwithstanding  I  had  witnessed  many  bloody  fights. 
On  the  7th  of  December  my  wife  ran  the  blockade  and  met  me  at  the  house 
of  her  cousin,  near  Nashville.  It  was  a  joyful  meeting,  after  a  separation 
of  fourteen  long  months.  I  asked  for  the  children,  but  could  not  see  them. 
When  I  told  my  wife  where  I  had  been,  what  I  had  done,  what  good  meet- 
ings we  had  had,  how  I  waited  on  the  sick  and  ministered  to  the  well,  she 
rose  to  her  feet  and  said,  "Husband,  stay  with  them  to  the  last!" 

On  December  15th  and  16th  the  battle  around  Nashville  was  fought. 
Hood's  ranks  were  broken,  and  he  retreated  toward  Franklin.  The  ground 
had  been  covered  with  snow  and  ice  for  several  days.  Then  came  a  heavy 
rain ;  the  snow  and  ice  were  melting,  and  the  poor  soldiers — many  of  them 
barefooted,  or  nearly  so — moved  back  with  bleeding  feet  and  aching  hearts. 
They  had  expected,  when  they  left  Georgia,  to  regain  their  homes  and  see 
their  friends  ;  but  now  it  was  all  over,  and  their  spirits  sank  within  them. 
Again  I  turned  my  back  on  home,  and  with  downcast  spirits  accompanied 
the  retreating  army,  in  the  rain,  in  the  snow,  over  swollen  streams  and  roads 
almost  impassable.  During  this  retreat  I  preached  whenever  practicable, 
especially  at  Columbus,  Miss.,  and  Augusta,  Ga.,  where  I  was  engaged  in 
visiting  the  hospitals  also.  .  .  . 

After  the  surrender  of  Lee  and  Johnston  I  returned  to  Nashville,  reaching 
there  late  at  night,  May  20,  1865.  My  #house  had  been  burned,  and  my 
family  and  myself  went  to  her  brother's  and  began  life  anew.  Horses  gone, 
cattle  gone,  fences  gone,  timber  gone,  money  gone,  servants  gone — the  out- 
look was  unpromising.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  we  went  to  work  to  make 
a  living. 

October  came.  The  Tennessee  Conference,  which  had  not  convened  for 
two  years,  met  in  Nashville,  at  Tulip  Street,  and  the  bishop  read  me  out  as 
Book  Agent.1 

The  work  of  another  of  these  army  chaplains  is  worthy 
a  place  in  these  pages.  He  was  connected  with  the  army 
that  operated  in  Arkansas  and  the  West.  The  work  done 
by  him  and  under  his  direction  is  one  of  the  lights  that 
relieve  the  dark  picture  of  the  horrors  of  war.  "  Under 
the  faithful  ministry  of  gospel  truth  by  him  and  other 
faithful  chaplains  and  missionaries,"  says  one  who  was 


1  Fitzgerald's  "  Life  of  McFerrin,"  pp.  269,  ff. 


74 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap,  vhl 


upon  the  field,  "  very  extensive  revivals  of  religion  oc- 
curred in  the  army,  especially  during  the  winter  encamp- 
ment in  Arkansas,  1863-64.  At  Little  Rock,  Camden, 
Camp  Bragg,  and  Three  Creeks,  revivals  continued  for 
months.  I  kept  an  estimate  for  two  years  of  the  number 
of  conversions,  and  in  the  two  years  they  amounted  to 
more  than  two  thousand."  Says  another,  who  was  asso- 
ciated in  the  work : 

The  writer  [Rev.  Horace  Jewell]  was  a  chaplain  in  one  of  the  Arkansas 
regiments,  and  was  intimately  associated  with  Brother  Marvin  in  his  labors 
for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  soldiers.  I  suppose  that  some  of  the  finest 
efforts  of  his  life  were  sermons  preached  to  the  soldiers  in  the  camps.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  hundreds.  Not 
only  was  he  successful  in  his  personal  ministry,  but  he  was  able  to  inaugu- 
rate measures  that  assisted  others  in  working  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  He 
directed  their  labors  and  energies  to  successful  results.  For  the  ends  of  as- 
sociation and  organization  he  called  together  a  meeting  of  chaplains  and  other 
ministers,  representing  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Presbyterians,  and  organized 
a  regular  Army  Church.  The  vast  amount  of  good  accomplished  by  it  can 
only  be  fully  known  in  eternity. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  plan  of  organization : 
Articles  of  Faith. 

The  Christian  men  of  the  army,  believing  that  the  habitation  of  God  by  his 
Spirit  constitutes  the  church,  agree,  for  their  edification  and  for  the  conver- 
sion of  their  fellowmen,  to  organize  the  Church  of  the  Army,  with  the  fol- 
lowing Articles  of  Faith  and  Constitution  : 

Article  I.  We  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to 
be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  obedience. 

Art.  II.  We  believe  in  one  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory. 

Art.  III.  We  believe  in  the  fall  in  Adam,  the  redemption  by  Christ,  and 
the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Art.  IV.  We  believe  in  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  therefore  receive 
and  rest  upon  Christ  alone  as  our  only  hope. 

Art.  V.  We  believe  in  the  communion  of  saints  and  the  doctrine  of  eternal 
rewards  and  punishments. 

Constitution. 

The  Christian  men  who  have  been  baptized,  adopting  these  "Articles  of 
Faith  "  in  each  regiment,  shall  constitute  one  church,  who  shall  choose  ten 


THE  SITUATION  AT  THE  CLOSE  OE  THE  WAR.  75 


officers  to  take  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  same.  Of  the  officers  so  selected, 
the  chaplain,  or  one  selecte'd  by  themselves,  shall  act  as  moderator.  The 
officers  will  meet  once  a  month,  or  oftener,  if  necessary,  and  in  the  exercise 
of  discipline  will  be  governed  by  the  teachings  of  Christ.  They  will  keep  a 
record  of  the  names  of  the  members,  and  the  manner  in  which  their  connec- 
tion with  the  church  is  dissolved. 

One  of  the  associated  chaplains  has  this  to  say,  long 
after  the  war : 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  these  army  churches  in  the  various  regiments, 
we  were  visited  by  a  gracious  revival,  in  which  hundreds  were  converted  and 
gathered  into  these  army  churches.  My  position  as  a  presiding  elder  on  two 
large  districts  since  the  war  has  given  me  large  opportunity  to  compare  the 
results  of  the  work  in  this  organization.  My  conviction  is  that  a  much  larger 
percent,  of  the  converts  in  these  army  churches  have  remained  faithful  than 
is  usual  in  our  ordinary  revival  meetings.1 

Dr.  B.  T.  Kavanaugh,  writing  of  the  results  of  this  work 
among  the  soldiers,  says : 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the  men  were  discharged  and  had  returned 
home,  I  was  traveling  through  Texas,  and  put  up  for  the  night  at  the  house 
of  a  Christian  widow  lady.  I  was  telling  her  of  our  Army  Church  and  of 
its  happy  influence  on  our  soldiers,  when  she  replied  with  a  smile  and  said, 
"  Yes,  sir;  I  have  heard  of  it  before,  greatly  to  my  delight;  for  I  had  two 
sons  in  the  army,  and  they  have  both  returned  to  me  converted,  Christian 
men."  I  have  met  with  others  who  dated  their  Christian  experience  back  to 
their  service  in  the  army. 

These  are  examples — exceptional  examples,  it  is  true — 
of  the  work  done  by  Southern  Methodist  preachers  among 
the  soldiers,  during  the  war. 

On  April  9,  1865,  General  Lee  surrendered  to  General 
Grant  at  Appomattox  in  Virginia;  on  April  26th  Gen- 
eral Johnston  surrendered  to  General  Sherman  at  Greens- 
boro, N.  C.  The  South  was  conquered  and  the  war  was 
ended.  The  soldiers  of  the  Northern  armies  returned  to 
homes  of  comfort  and  a  land  of  comparative  plenty  amid 
the  rejoicings  of  millions.    It  was  otherwise  in  the  South. 

1  Finney's  "  Life  of  Bishop  Marvin,"  pp.  378,  379. 


76 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  viii. 


Everywhere  were  desolation  and  destitution,  and,  for  a 
moment,  the  pall  of  despair.  Homes  and  houses  had  been 
destroyed.  Plantations  and  farms  had  been  laid  waste. 
Fences  had  been  burned.  The  live  stock  had  been  used 
up  by  the  Confederates  or  confiscated  by  the  Federals,  and 
those  were  considered  fortunate  who  had,  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  a  solitary  mule,  an  abandoned  army  horse,  or 
a  single  milk  cow.  Mills  were  destroyed.  Implements 
of  industry  were  gone.  Provisions  and  clothing  had  been 
exhausted,  and  large  districts  were  on  the  verge  of  famine. 
Soldiers  returned  to  their  homes  to  find  them  in  ruins  and 
their  loved  ones  in  want.  Women  received  back,  with 
tears  of  rejoicing,  husbands  and  brothers,  fathers  and  sons, 
but  they  received  them  barefooted  and  in  rags.  Added 
to  their  difficulties  and  destitution  were  the  exactions  and 
oppressions  of  the  rapacious  adventurers,  who,  as  agents 
of  reconstruction,  came  down  on  the  South  like  wolves  on 
the  fold. 

The  Southern  people  had  lost  their  cause,  for  which  let 
us  unceasingly  thank  God ;  and  they  had  lost  their  all. 
But  they  had  not  lost  heart  or  hope  or  manhood  or  self- 
respect  or  courage,  for  which  also  let  us  thank  God.  After 
a  breathing-spell  they  arose  to  meet  the  problems  of  their 
new  situation,  and  to  undertake  the  task  of  recuperation 
with  a  calmness,  a  courage,  and  a  good-will  which  have 
been  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

The  Southern  Methodist  Church  shared  all  the  disasters 
of  the  scene  of  war,  and  all  the  difficulties  and  embarrass- 
ments of  the  situation  at  its  close.  When  in  1865  she 
called  her  rolls,  though  the  church  still  lived  many  of  her 
sons  were  dead  or  missing.  She  had  suffered  a  threefold 
decimation  in  those  terrible  years  from  '61  to  '65.  Her 
ministers,  as  already  noted,  continued,  straight  on  through 
the  war,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  people  at  home  and 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1866. 


77 


the  soldiers  on  the  field,  to  the  whites  and  to  the  blacks, 
to  the  poor  and  to  the — poorer;  but  the  regular  opera- 
tions of  the  church  machinery  were  much  interfered  with. 
The  Annual  Conferences,  as  a  rule,  were  held,  but  with 
diminished  numbers,  and  often  without  the  presence  of  a 
bishop. 

When  the  time  approached  for  the  General  Conference 
of  1862,  appointed  to  meet  in  New  Orleans,  though  dele- 
gates had  been  elected  by  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  yet 
it  was  thought  impracticable  to  attempt  the  holding  of  a 
General  Conference  at  that  time  and  place.  Contrary  to 
the  expectations  and  calculations  of  the  General  Conference 
of  1858,  Admiral  Farragut  and  General  Butler  had  antic- 
ipated them  in  the  occupancy  of  New  Orleans,  in  April, 
1862;  and  it  was  not  entirely  certain  that  General  Butler 
would  hospitably  receive  the  General  Conference  or  facili- 
tate its  proceedings.     It  therefore  lapsed. 

In  August,  1865,  after  a  short  season  for  review  and 
reflection,  the  bishops  of  the  church  held  a  meeting  in 
Columbus,  Ga.,  and  issued  a  "  Pastoral  Address  to  the 
Preachers  and  Members  of  the  Church."  They  reviewed 
the  past  few  years  and  the  present  situation. 

It  was  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  and  gave  no  uncertain  sound : 
' '  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  still  lived,  and  in  all  its  polity 
and  principles  was  unchanged.  Neither  disintegration  nor  absorption  was 
for  a  moment  to  be  thought  of,  all  rumors  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
Whatever  banner  had  fallen  or  been  furled,  that  of  Southern  Methodism  was 
still  unfurled;  whatever  cause  had  been  lost,  that  of  Southern  Methodism 
survived." 

The  Annual  Conferences  were  instructed  to  elect  dele- 
gates to  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  to  be  held 
in  New  Orleans  in  1866,  according  to  adjournment  eight 
years  before.  In  the  meeting  of  the  Annual  Conferences 
of  the  fall  of  1865,  "the  peeled  and  scattered  hosts,  dis- 


78 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  VIIL 


cou raged  and  confused  by  adversities  and  adverse  rumors, 
rallied ;  and  never  did  delegates  meet  in  General  Confer- 
ence from  center  and  remotest  posts  more  enthusiastically. 
Of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  delegates  elect,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  were  present."1 

1  McTyeire,  "  History  of  Methodism." 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF   1 866. 

THE  first  session  of  the  General  Conference  after  the 
close  of  the  war  was  held  in  the  Carondelet  Street  Church 
in  New  Orleans,  in  April,  1866.  It  was,  next  to  that  of 
1846,  the  most  important  and  memorable  in  the  history 
of  the  church.  Five  of  the  six  bishops  were  present — 
Andrew,  Paine,  Pierce,  Early,  and  Kavanaugh.  Bishop 
Soule  was  too  feeble  to  be  in  attendance.  Thomas  O. 
Summers  was  elected  secretary. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  session  a  delegation  from  the 
Baltimore  Conference  appeared,  asking  admission  into  the 
M.  E.  Church,  South.  At  the  time  of  the  separation  in 
1845,  this  conference  had  adhered  to  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  In  1861  they  withdrew  from  that  jurisdic- 
tion, and  maintained  an  independent  existence  until  their 
session  at  Alexandria  in  March,  1866,  when  they  formally 
adhered  to  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  and  delegates,  six 
in  number,  were  elected  to  the  General  Conference  in  New 
Orleans. 

Notwithstanding  this  accession,  the  statistics  show  a 
large  and  suggestive  decrease  in  membership.  In  i860 
the  general  minutes  showed  a  grand  total  of  757,205 
members;  in  1866  it  had  fallen  to  511,161,  showing  a  loss 
of  246,044.  In  the  South,  as  in  the  North,  as  President 
Lincoln  said,  "  The  Methodist  Church  sent  more  soldiers 
to  the  field,  more  nurses  to  the  hospitals,  and  more  prayers 
to  heaven  than  any  other  ;"  and  the  great  decrease  in  the 

79 


8o 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  ix. 


membership  of  both  churches  bears  suggestive  witness  that 
the  Methodists  did  not  stay  at  home  and  take  care  of 
themselves. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  the  session,  when  the  General 
Conference  had  gotten  under  full  headway,  there  was  a 
very  pleasant  interruption  of  the  proceedings.  The  sec- 
retary announced  that  he  had  received  a  telegraphic  dis- 
patch from  the  New  York  East  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  then  in  session  in  Brooklyn.  It 
was  as  follows : 

Whereas  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  is  now  in  session  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  New  York  East  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  hereby  present  to  that  venerable  representative  body  our  Chris- 
tian salutations,  and  cordially  invite  them,  together  with  us,  to  make  next 
Sabbath,  April  8,  1866,  a  day  of  special  prayer,  both  in  private  and  in  the 
public  congregations,  for  the  peace  and  unity  of  our  common  country  and  for 
the  full  restoration  of  Christian  sympathy  and  love  between  the  churches, 
especially  between  the  different  branches  of  Methodism  in  this  nation ; 

That  the  secretary  be  instructed  to  transmit  by  telegraph  a  copy  of  this 
resolution  to  the  secretary  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  at  New  Orleans. 

This  communication  was  received  with  great  interest, 
and  the  General  Conference,  by  a  standing  vote,  adopted 
a  resolution  instructing  the  secretary  to  express  by  tele- 
graph to  the  New  York  East  Conference  their  cordial  re- 
ciprocation of  these  Christian  salutations  and  their  cordial 
agreement  to  unite  with  that  conference  on  Sunday,  April 
8th,  "  in  special  and  solemn  prayer,  in  private  and  in  the 
public  congregations,  for  the  very  desirable  objects  speci- 
fied in  their  fraternal  message."1 

Numerous  changes,  some  of  them  important,  were  made 
in  the  economy  of  the  church  by  the  General  Conference 
of  1866.  Says  one  of  those  who  took  a  prominent  part: 
"  Men's  minds  had  become  used  to  great  changes,  and  the 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1866,"  p.  26. 


IMPORTANT  CHANGES.        *  8 1 

session  at  New  Orleans  was  therefore  favorable  for  meas- 
ures upon  which  the  usual  conservatism  might  have  hesi- 
tated long  in  ordinary  times."1 

Attendance  upon  class-meeting,  which  up  to  this  time 
was  obligatory,  was  made  voluntary,  and  so  put  upon  the 
same  ground  as  attendance  upon  the  other  means  of  grace. 
The. General  Conference  did  not,  by  any  means,  intend,  in 
this  action,  to  abolish  the  class-meeting;  but  eventually, 
and  to  the  great  regret  of  many,  bishops,  preachers,  and 
people,  it  resulted  in  a  practical  abolition  of  this  time- 
honored  institution,  though  it  still  lingers  in  some  places, 
and  love-feasts  are  regularly  held  in  connection  with  quar- 
terly meetings. 

The  rule  imposing  a  probation  of  six  months  on  candi- 
dates for  membership  was  set  aside.  It  was  supposed 
that  "  admission  to  the  church  would  be  guarded  with 
reasonable  and  conscientious  care."  It  is  to  be  feared, 
however,  that  this  is  not  in  all  cases  true,  and  that  there 
is  practically  insufficient  detention  of  candidates  for  ascer- 
taining their  spiritual  condition  or  obtaining  substantial  as- 
surances of  their  religious  experience  or  the  genuineness 
of  their  purpose  of  consecration  and  obedience.  In  some 
conferences,  however,  there  are  exceptions,  and  the  door 
of  admission  into  the  church  is  carefully  and  jealously 
guarded,  as  it  ought  to  be  in  all. 

The  pastoral  term  was,  not  without  much  discussion  and 
opposition,  extended  from  two  to  four  years.  District 
conferences  were  discussed  and  recommended,  but  not 
formally  adopted  and  authoritatively  imposed  till  the 
General  Conference  of  1870.  Among  the  most  important 
measures  of  the  General  Conference  of  1866  was  the 
adoption  of  lay  representation  in  the  General  and  the 
Annual  Conferences.    The  experiment  had  been  made 

1  McTyeire,  "  History  of  Methodism." 


82  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH  [Chap.  ix. 


and  the  example  set  by  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
which  indeed  was  organized  on  the  basis  of  lay  represen- 
tation as  long  before  as  1830.  A  sentiment,  says  Bishop 
McTyeire,  in  favor  of  lay  delegation  had  been  growing 
for  years  in  the  Southern  Methodist  Church.  At  least 
two  tentative  schemes  had  preceded  the  legislative  action 
of  1866,  one  in  the  Virginia  Conference  and  one  in  the 
Louisiana  Conference.  The  law,  as  adopted  in  1866,  pro- 
vided for  four  lay  delegates  for  each  presiding  elder's 
district  in  the  Annual  Conferences,  while  in  the  General 
Conference,  the  law-making  body,  the  number  of  lay  del- 
egates was  made  equal  to  the  clerical. 

So  ripe  was  public  opinion,  so  propitious  the  times,  and  so  well  digested 
was  the  scheme,  that  this  great  change  was  introduced  without  heat  or  par- 
tisanship. Unstintedly,  on  their  own  motion,  the  ministry,  who  had  held 
this  power  from  the  beginning,  divided  it  equally  with  lay  brethren,  and  a  new 
power  was  developed,  a  new  interest  awakened,  and  a  new  progress  begun. 

Bishop  Soule,  now  eighty- five  years  old,  in  age  and 
feebleness  extreme,  and  Bishops  Andrew  and  Early,  ad- 
vanced in  years,  and  worn  with  incessant  travel  and  ex- 
cessive toil,  were,  at  their  own  reluctant  request,  retired 
from  active  service  and  four  new  bishops  were  elected : 
W.  M.  Wightman,  Enoch  M.  Marvin,  David  S.  Doggett, 
and  Holland  N.  McTyeire.  Dr.  Wightman  had  been  a 
member  of  the  General  Conferences  of  1840  and  1844, 
prior  to  the  division  of  the  church,  and  of  every  General 
Conference  of  the  Southern  Church  after  the  division. 
From  1840  to  1854  he  was  editor  of  the  "Southern 
Christian  Advocate."  From  1854  to  1859  he  was  presi- 
dent of  WofTord  College  in  South  Carolina,  and  after  1859 
chancellor  of  the  Southern  University  at  Greensboro,  Ala., 
till  his  election  as  bishop.  He  was  the  author  of  the 
'*  Life  of  Bishop  William  Capers,"  and  a  contributor  to  the 
"Life  of  Dr.  Olin,"  edited  by  Mrs.  Olin.    He  was  a  man 


SKETCH  OF  BISHOP  MARVIN. 


83 


of  fine  ability  and  of  superior  scholarship.  His  sermons 
showed  most  careful  preparation,  were  delivered  with  great 
deliberation  and  precision,  and  often  rose  into  eloquence. 

Brother  Marvin,  as  those  who  knew  him  preferred  to 
call  him,  came  from  the  common  people,  retained  always 
the  simplicity  and  ruggedness  of  the  common  people,  and 
was  always  a  favorite  with  the  common  people.  He  was 
born  in  a  log  cabin,  and  when  seventeen  years  old,  in  a 
log  cabin  he  was  born  again.  But  he  was  born  again. 
Nobody  that  knew  him  ever  doubted  that.  College  train- 
ing he  had  none,  but  he  had  the  old-time  religion  and 
much  native  mental  vigor.  What  of  him  was  not  God- 
made  was  self-made.  When  he  went  up  to  join  confer- 
ence at  Jefferson  City,  in  his  native  State  of  Missouri  in 
1842,  his  homeliness  of  person,  his  awkwardness  of  man- 
ner, and  his  homespun,  misfit  clothing  marked  him  as  a 
country  curiosity.  In  these  respects  he  was  not  unlike 
the  homely-faced,  awkward-mannered,  ill-clad  rail-splitter 
of  Kentucky,  who  afterward  became  President  of  the 
United  States.  But  he  could  preach.  He  had  it  in  him 
to  rise.  And  he  rose.  In  1854  he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Conference.  In  1855  he  was  pastor  of  a  metro- 
politan church  in  St.  Louis.  In  1863  he  was  superintend- 
ent of  chaplains  in  the  army,  with  what  results  we  have 
already  seen.  In  1866  he  was  elected  bishop  on  the  first 
ballot.  His  elevation  from  the  pastorate  to  the  episco- 
pate had  no  visible  effect  on  the  childlike  simplicity  of  his 
character,  the  humility  of  his  spirit,  or  the  intense  direct- 
ness of  his  preaching.  It  did  not  remove  him  from  the 
people.  He  still  preached  at  camp-meetings,  held  pro- 
tracted services  for  his  brethren,  and  still  saw  sinners 
powerfully  convicted  and  gloriously  converted  under  his 
preaching,  as  when  he  was  a  country  boy-preacher  in  old 
Missouri.    In  spontaneous,  fiery  outbursts  of  natural  elo- 


84 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  ix. 


quence,  he  has  perhaps  not  had  his  equal  in  the  Southern 
Church.  In  1876  he  made  an  episcopal  visit  to  the  China 
mission,  and  in  1877,  on  his  way  back  to  the  West  by  the 
way  of  the  East,  he  attended  the  British  Wesleyan  Con- 
ference as  fraternal  delegate  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  He  was  the  author  of  several  books,  the 
best  known  of  which  is  perhaps  his  book  of  travels,  "  To 
the  East  by  the  Way  of  the  West."  His  smaller  and 
earlier  work  entitled  "  The  Work  of  Christ "  is  vigorous 
and  thought-provoking.  A  short  time  after  his  death  a 
contribution  of  one  dollar  was  asked  from  each  namesake 
of  the  beloved  and  lamented  bishop  for  a  mission  school, 
and  over  seventeen  hundred  dollars  were  sent  in. 

Dr.  Doggett  was  professor  in  Randolph- Macon  College 
from  1842  to  1845.  From  1850  to  1858  he  was  editor 
of  the  "  Quarterly  Review  "  of  the  church.  At  the  time 
of  his  election  to  the  episcopacy  he  was  pastor  of  Cente- 
nary Church  in  Richmond,  Va.  He  was  a  polished  and 
dignified  Virginia  gentleman,  a  broad  and  versatile  scholar, 
and  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian.  His  sermons  were 
models  of  homiletical  architecture  ;  his  thought  was  mascu- 
line, and  his  style  Ciceronian  in  its  transparent  clearness, 
its  dignified  simplicity,  its  fine  antithesis,  its  swelling  vol- 
ume, and  its  periodic  compactness.  When  the  unction 
was  upon  him,  as  it  often  was,  his  eloquence  was  next  to 
irresistible. 

But  the  one  of  the  four  new  bishops  who  exerted  the 
widest  influence  and  became  most  widely  known  was  H.  N. 
McTyeire.  He  had  been  a  pastor  and  an  editor.  At  the 
time  of  his  election  he  was  pastor  in  Montgomery,  Ala. 

Says  one  who  knew  him  familiarly  and  for  years : 

He  was  a  pure  man  and  an  able  preacher,  a  great  bishop,  and  a  wise,  firm, 
impartial  presiding  officer,  an  ecclesiastical  statesman,  and  the  calm  philo- 
sophical historian  of  Methodism.  ...  In  him  joyous  and  sympathetic  com- 


SKETCH  OF  BISHOP  McTYEIRE. 


85 


munion  with  nature,  with  God,  and  his  fellowman  produced  a  thoroughly 
healthy  spirit,  which,  free  from  abnormal  and  fantastic  thinking,  from  false 
and  sickly  sentiment,  from  bookishness  and  pedantry,  poured  forth  a  strong 
limpid  stream,  which,  through  its  whole  course,  refreshed  and  invigorated 
the  Church  of  God,  in  which  he  was  ordained  a  bishop.  His  sermons  were 
always  marked  by  great  solemnity,  relieved,  however,  by  the  genial  play  of 
humor,  which  bubbled  up  on  the  surface  of  some  great  theme  as  naturally  as 
a  spring  bursts  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth.  Not  so  leonine  as  Soule,  .  .  . 
nor  so  overwhelming  as  Bascom,  nor  so  mellifluous  as  Pierce,  nor  so  ornate 
as  Doggett,  nor  so  rapturous  as  Kavanaugh,  he  yet  possessed  in  singularly 
harmonious  proportions  the  elements  of  a  really  great  preacher.  Much  of 
his  early  preaching  was  to  the  negroes,  of  whom,  for  many  years,  he  had 
pastoral  charge.  ...  His  intense  concern  for  the  race  knew  no  abatement 
with  the  increase  of  episcopal  and  university  responsibilities.  Strong  in  mind 
and  body;  bold  to  take  up  and  firm  to  sustain  the  burden  of  duty;  large  in 
his  sympathies  and  generous  in  his  impulses  ;  sprung  from  the  people,  loving 
them  and  loved  by  them  ;  tenacious  of  his  convictions  and  purposes ;  blessed 
with  a  rare  simplicity  of  motive  which  was  never  confused  by  the  enticements 
of  the  world  or  corrupted  by  the  deceitfulness  of  riches ;  unswerving  in  his 
loyalty  to  Methodism — this  man  faithfully  served  the  church  of  his  love  in 
his  youth  and  early  manhood,  through  the  burden  and  heat  of  middle  life ; 
and  as  his  sun  crossed  the  meridian  and  began  its  descent  of  the  western 
skies,  he  laid  down  his  finished  task  at  his  Master's  feet.1 

The  Missionary  Society  of  the  church  was  found  to  be 
$60,200  in  debt,  and  the  Publishing  House  was  practi- 
cally in  ruins.  The  General  Conference  of  1866  "patched 
up  these  two  wrecks  and  sent  them  forth  to  sink  or  swim. 
There  was  no  capital  and  but  little  credit,  no  supply  but 
much  demand."  Dr.  A.  H.  Redford,  of  Kentucky,  was 
elected  Agent  of  the  Publishing  House,  with  no  books  to 
sell,  no  facilities  for  making  books,  and  no  suitable  place 
for  keeping  them  when  made. 

In  the  face  of  the  ruin  of  their  promising  educational 
institutions,  the  General  Conference  of  1866  calmly  set 
about  the  task  of  repairing  it  as  far  and  as  fast  as  possible. 
"  We  must,"  they  say  in  their  address  to  the  church, 
"  meet  the  emergency  with  an  unfaltering  purpose,  and 
rise  with  determined  might  to  the  difficult  yet  hopeful  task 

l  Tigert's  "  Fraternal  Address,"  1892,  p.  30. 


86  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  ix. 


which  lies  before  us."  They  even  undertook  to  make 
provision  for  some  new  features  in  their  educational  work. 
They  recommended  and  insisted  upon  the  establishment 
of  a  Biblical  Institute  for  the  proper  and  special  training 
of  young  preachers.  And  still  further:  realizing  the 
changed  conditions  and  their  new  relations  and  responsi- 
bilities to  the  colored  people,  and  reasserting  their  claim  to 
be  the  friend  of  this  race — a  claim  vindicated  by  continuous 
and  successful  exertions  made  in  their  behalf  in  instructing 
and  evangelizing  them — by  formal  resolution  they  recom- 
mended to  their  people  the  establishment  of  day-schools 
for  the  education  of  colored  children,  and  this  notwith- 
standing their  poverty  and  notwithstanding  heavy  burdens 
of  their  own.  The  bishops  were  authorized  to  form  pre- 
siding elders'  districts  of  colored  charges,  to  appoint  col- 
ored presiding  elders,  and  to  organize  Annual  Conferences 
of  colored  preachers. 

However,  out  of  207,776  colored  members  in  i860 
there  now  remained  in  the  Southern  Church  only  48,742. 
The  others  had  joined  the  two  African  churches,  which 
up  to  this  time  had  operated  mainly  in  the  North,  or  had 
gone  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  whose  repre- 
sentatives were  everywhere  to  be  found  throughout  the 
South. 

Five  new  conferences  were  authorized  by  the  General 
Conference  of  1866:  the  South  Georgia,  the  Columbia, 
the  Northwest  Texas,  the  Illinois,  and  the  North  Texas, 
all  of  which  were  organized  the  same  or  the  following 
year. 

The  large  attendance  of  delegates  at  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1866,  the  hopefulness  and  enthusiasm  of  its 
members,  their  earnest  grapple  with  the  problems  before 
them,  and  their  generous  measures  for  the  extension  and 
the  enlarged  efficiency  and  usefulness  of  the  church,  chal- 


•RENEWED  ENTHUSIASM. 


87 


lenged  and  revived  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
sounded  the  keynote  of  the  quadrennium  for  renewed 
activity  and  lofty  endeavor.  Preachers  and  people  every- 
where responded,  and  once  more,  after  a  long,  dark  period 
of  decimation,  demoralization,  and  depression,  the  church 
went  forward  on  her  mission  of  evangelizing  the  masses 
within  her  borders,  and  providing,  as  much  as  in  her  lay, 
for  the  extension  of  her  work  into  outlying  lands. 

The  difficulties  and  embarrassments  of  her  changed  con- 
dition, misrepresentation  and  opposition  from  without  and 
defections  from  within — all  these  were  not  enough  to  de- 
stroy her  courage  or  to  check  her  enthusiasm.  On  the 
contrary,  they  seemed  to  invigorate  her  spirit  and  stimu- 
late her  activities  to  an  unwonted  degree.  The  itinerant 
went  forth  again  on  his  gracious  errands,  old  circuit  lines 
were  restored  and  extended,  new  and  larger  churches  were 
builded,  parsonages  were  multiplied,  schools  and  colleges 
were  reopened,  and  the  whole  machinery  of  church  work 
was  in  motion  everywhere.  The  Lord  seconded  these 
efforts  with  his  blessing,  and  in  all  places  the  tokens  of  his 
gracious  presence  attested  that  he  had  not  forsaken  his 
ancient  heritage.  Once  more  the  decimated  rolls  of  the 
church  began  to  fill  up,  and  there  was  a  steady  increase 
throughout  the  quadrennium.  In  1866  the  number  of 
members  had  fallen  to  a  little  over  half  a  million.  In 
1870  it  had  risen  again  to  nearly  six  hundred  thousand. 

Within  less  than  a  year  after  the  General  Conference  of 
1866  the  church  was  callecl  to  lament  the  death  of  their 
venerable  and  venerated  Senior  Superintendent,  Bishop 
Joshua  Soule.  He  was  the  last  and  a  worthy  member  of 
the  great  episcopal  triumvirate  of  American  Methodism — 
Asbury,  McKendree,  Soule. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1870. 

The  succeeding  General  Conference,  held  at  Memphis 
in  May,  1870,  is  noteworthy  for  several  reasons.  It  was 
the  first  in  which  laymen  participated  as  delegates. 
Indeed,  with  the  exception  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church,  it  was  the  first  General  Conference  of  the  kind  in 
the  annals  'of  Methodism.  Of  lay  delegates  there  were 
one  hundred  and  six,  and  of  clerical,  one  hundred  and 
twenty.  The  experiment  proved  eminently  successful  and 
satisfactory  to  all  parties,  even  the  most  conservative  and 
doubtful.  The  venerable  Bishop  Paine,  in  his  address  on 
the  last  day  of  the  conference,  said :  "  The  inauguration 
of  the  system  of  lay  delegation  has  worked  admirably, 
confirming  our  conviction  that  the  laity  can  aid  greatly  in 
managing  the  great  interests  of  the  church ;  and  I  hope 
our  lay  brethren  will  return  home  with  the  impression 
that  they  are  not  only  welcome,  but  that  they  are  felt  to 
be  an  important  element  in  our  deliberations." 

While  this  important  measure,  inaugurated  in  the  South- 
ern Church  and  under  the  leadership  of  her  prominent 
men,  showed  their  wise  foresight  and  indicated  courage  to 
pioneer  a  forward  movement,  another  measure,  by  them 
planned  and  adopted  at  this  session,  demonstrated  that 
they  were  men  who  had  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
the  past  constitutional  history  of  Methodism,  a  profound 
knowledge  of  the  necessity,  nature,  and  ends  of  constitu- 
tional law,  and  of  constitutional  safeguards  for  the  preven- 

88 


THE  VETO  POWER  OF  THE  BISHOPS. 


89 


tion  of  hasty  action  or  ill-advised  legislation  involving 
fundamental  matters.  In  other  words,  while  they  had 
the  courage  to  inaugurate  wise  forward  movements  with- 
out waiting  for  others  to  make  the  experiment  or  set  the 
exampfe,  they  had  the  wise  caution  and  conservatism  to 
set  constitutional  barriers  and  bulwarks  against  the  possi- 
bility of  lawless  action  or  reckless  legislation.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1808,  which  enacted  the  constitution, 
had  left  it  defective  in  one  important  respect :  it  provided 
no  way  of  determining  whether  an  action  or  measure  of 
the  General  Conference  is  or  is  not  constitutional,  is  or  is 
not  contrary  to  the  Restrictive  Rules.  The  question  was 
raised  as  far  back  as  1820.  A  resolution  was  passed 
making  presiding  elders  elective  by  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences. Bishop  McKendree  expressed  his  decided  convic- 
tion that  this  was  a  violation  of  the  Third  Restrictive  Rule, 
and  unconstitutional. 

Mr.  Soule,  who  had  been  elected  bishop,  declined  to  be 
ordained  and  resigned  the  office,  holding  the  same  views 
as  Bishop  McKendree.1  The  offensive  resolution  was 
suspended  till  the  next  General  Conference,  and  a  resolu- 
tion was  passed  recommending  to  the  Annual  Conferences 
so  to  alter  the  Discipline  that  if  a  majority  of  the  bishops 
judged  a  measure  unconstitutional  they  should  return  it 
to  the  General  Conference  in  three  days,  with  their  objec- 
tions, and  a  majority  of  two  thirds  should  then  be  required 
for  its  final  passage.  This  resolution,  however,  was  not 
concurred  in  by  the  Annual  Conferences.  The  same  fate, 
says  Bishop  McTyeire,  met  a  similar  effort  four  years 
later.  He  goes  on  to  say  :  "  This  want  of  a  constitutional 
test  must  be  supplied  sooner  or  later, — by  the  civil  if  not 
by  the  church  courts."  Joshua  Soule  had  said  in  1824, 
with  equal  truth  and  emphasis :  "  The  General  Conference 
1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1820,"  pp.  236,  237. 


go 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  x. 


is  not  the  proper  judge  of  the  constitutionality  of  its  own 
acts.  If  the  General  Conference  be  the  sole  judge  of  such 
questions,  then  there  are  no  bounds  to  its  power."  And 
it  has  been  forcibly  said  by  another :  "  Should  the  General 
Conference  at  any  time  exceed  its  constitutional  powers, 
the  Annual  Conferences  have  no  protection  and  no  re- 
dress ;  the  bishops  can  only  submit  or  resign ;  the  church 
itself,  should  the  guaranteed  rights  of  the  membership  be 
invaded,  has  no  remedy  save  that  of  revolution." 

An  effort  was  made  at  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Southern  Church  in  1854  to  remedy  this  defect  of  the  con- 
stitution, and  to  add  to  the  constitution,  as  a  part  of  itself, 
a  constitutional  test  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  acts  of 
the  General  Conference.  But  the  paragraph  making  pro- 
vision for  a  veto  power  of  the  bishops  was  only  passed  by 
a  majority  vote  of  the  General  Conference,  and  was  never 
submitted  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  which  omission  ren- 
dered the  proviso  itself  unconstitutional  and  void.  For 
that  reason  it  was  stricken  out  of  the  Discipline  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1870.1  At  the  same  time,  and  by 
the  same  General  Conference,  this  defect  in  the  constitu- 
tion was  supplied.  The  following  amendment  to  the  con- 
stitution was  made  in  the  regular  constitutional  way — that 
is,  by  a  General  Conference  majority  of  two  thirds,  con- 
firmed by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  the  Annual  Conferences ; 
in  this  case,  by  a  General  Conference  majority  of  160  yeas 
to  4  nays,  and  a  concurrent  vote  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  2024  yeas  to  9  nays : 

Provided,  That,  when  any  rule  or  regulation  is  adopted  by  the  General  Con- 
ference which  in  the  opinion  of  the  bishops  is  unconstitutional,  the  bishops 
may  present  to  the  conference  which  passed  such  rule  or  regulation  their  ob- 
jections thereto,  with  their  reasons  in  writing;  and  then  if  the  General  Con- 
ference shall  by  a  two-thirds  vote  adhere  to  its  action  on  said  rule  or  regula- 


1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1870,"  pp.  287,  331. 


THE  COLORED  M.  E.  CHURCH. 


91 


tion,  it  shall  take  the  course  prescribed  for  altering  a  Restrictive  Rule;  and 
if  thus  passed  upon  affirmatively,  the  bishops  shall  announce  that  such  rule 
or  regulation  takes  effect  from  that  time. 

Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  its  organic  connectional- 
ism,  this  jealous  care  of  the  constitution  is  the  distinguish- 
ing peculiarity  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  one  of  its  crowning  glories. 

The  General  Conference  of  1866  directed  that,  if  the 
colored  membership  desired  it,  the  bishops,  if  and  when 
their  godly  judgment  approved,  should  organize  them  into 
an  independent  ecclesiastical  body.  In  the  interval  be- 
tween 1866  and  1870  the  bishops  formed  several  Annual 
Conferences  composed  of  colored  preachers.  That  experi- 
ment proved  satisfactory.  The  colored  preachers,  as  the 
bishops  declare,  showed  diligence  as  well  as  fidelity.  A 
very  general  and  earnest  desire  was  expressed  by  the 
colored  preachers  and  members  for  an  independent  church 
organization.  They  declared  that  they  believed  it  would 
be  best  for  both  white  and  colored  people  to  have  separate 
churches  and  schools,  and  tfiat  it  would  promote  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  both  the  white  and  the  colored 
churches.  The  preachers  of  the  colored  conferences  re- 
quested the  General  Conference  of  1870  to  appoint  a  com- 
mission of  five  to  confer  with  delegates  of  their  own,  with 
a  view  to  the  consummation  of  an  independent  organiza- 
tion.1 This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  colored  con- 
ferences, eight  in  number,  were  erected  into  a  distinct 
ecclesiastical  organization  in  December,  1870.  Bishop 
Paine  and  Bishop  McTyeire  presided  at  the  conventional 
General  Conference  at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  ordained  two 
bishops  of  their  own  election,  W.  H.  Miles  and  R.  H. 
Vanderhorst,  a  wise  and  friendly  solution  of  the  vexed 
question  of  colored  bishops. 

1  See  article  by  Bishop  Holsey  in  "  Independent,"  March  5,  1891. 


92  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  X. 


The  name  of  their  church,  chosen  by  themselves,  was 
"The  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  All  the 
churches  and  church  property  held  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the  use  of  their  colored 
membership,  were  turned  over  to  the  properly  constituted 
authorities  of  the  new  church.  The  total  value  of  this 
church  property  is  estimated  at  $i, 000,000. 1  Moreover, 
the  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
have,  in  many  cases,  given  them  church-lots  and  helped 
them  to  build  houses  for  religious  worship.  A  school  for 
the  education  of  the  teachers  and  preachers  of  this  col- 
ored church  was  founded  some  years  ago  by  Southern 
Methodists  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  one  man  giving  $25,000  ;  and 
this  school  is  regularly  supported  by  assessments  laid  upon 
all  the  Annual  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South;  while  they  contribute  regularly  also  to 
the  support  of  the  Normal  and  Theological  Institute  of  the 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Jackson,  Tenn. 

One  peculiarity  of  the  ^Colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  that  "it  stands  aloof  from  politics."2  One  rule 
of  their  Discipline  is  that  their  church-houses  shall  not  be 
used  for  political  speeches  and  meetings.  "  While  exercis- 
ing their  rights  as  citizens,  they  endeavor  to  keep  their  re- 
ligious assemblies  free  from  that  complication  with  political 
parties  which  has  been  so  damaging  to  the  spiritual  inter- 
ests of  the  colored  people."  They  have  over  3000  churches, 
over  1200  traveling  preachers,  2500  local  preachers,  about 
140,000  members,  and  22  Annual  Conferences,  presided 
over  by  4  bishops. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1870,  the  two  mission 
boards,  foreign  and  domestic,  were  consolidated,  and  Dr. 
John  B.  McFerrin  was  made  secretary  of  the  new  board. 

1  Rev.  Dr.  R.  A.  Young  tells  me  it  was  $1,500,000. 

2  See  the  article  of  Bishop  Holsey  cited  above. 


DR.  BLEDSOE  AND  THE  "SOUTHERN  REVIEW."  93 


Under  his  able  and  efficient  management,  in  less  than  two 
years  the  old  debt  was  liquidated,  and  the  church  was  re- 
lieved of  a  heavy  burden  which  for  years  had  weighed  her 
down  and  impeded  her  missionary  movements.1 

The  expansion  of  the  work  of  the  church  in  the  home 
field  and  its  extension  into  outlying  territory  called  for 
new  conferences,  and  six  were  provided  for  in  the  General 
Conference  of  1870.  These  were  organized  in  the  same 
or  the  following  year:  the  North  Alabama,  the  Los  An- 
geles, the  Southwest  Missouri,  the  North  Mississippi,  the 
White  River,  and  the  Western. 

John  C.  Keener  was  elected  bishop,  and  still  survives 
as  the  Senior  Bishop  of  the  church.  Thomas  O.  Summers 
was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Nashville  Christian  Advocate." 
A  proposition  was  made  to  the  General  Conference  by  its 
editor,  the  distinguished  Dr.  A.  T.  Bledsoe,  a  local  preacher, 
to  adopt  the  "  Southern  Review  "  ;  and  it  was  accepted  on 
certain  express  conditions,  one  of  which  was  the  elimination 
of  all  party  politics  and  the  substitution  of  a  theological  de- 
partment.2 Dr.  Bledsoe  accepted  the  conditions,  and  the 
"  Review,"  which  through  several  years  was  conducted  with 
an  ability  that  placed  it  in  the  very  front  rank  of  similar 
periodicals,  became  the  "  Quarterly  Review  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South."  "  There  are  not  a  few," 
says  Dr.  W.  F.  Tillett,  "  who  regard  it  as  the  ablest  period- 
ical of  its  kind  that  has  ever  been  published  in  this  coun- 
try, and  Dr.  Bledsoe  will  always  be  known  as  one  of  the 
strongest  intellects,  clearest  thinkers,  and  ablest  writers 
that  this  country  has  ever  produced."3 

The  bishops  issued  a  pastoral  address  at  the  opening 
of  this  General  Conference,  and,  by  special  request  of  the 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1870,"  pp.  328,  329. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  323,  324. 

3  "  Southern  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  July,  1893. 


94 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  x. 


conference,  another  near  its  close,  on  the  particular  sub- 
ject of  "  Worldly  Amusements."  While  the  whole  of  their 
pastoral  address  is  an  earnest,  thoughtful,  and  weighty 
document,  one  paragraph  is  especially  interesting  at  the 
present  time,  as  it  shows  what  were  the  views  and  con- 
victions of  the  chief  pastors  of  the  church  concerning  the 
Methodist  doctrine  and  experience  of  perfect  love.  They 
say . 

In  immediate  connection  with  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  church,  the  great 
and  only  effectual  remedy  for  most,  if  not  all,  our  deficiencies  as  a  church 
people,  is  an  increase  of  inward  genuine  Scriptural  holiness.  We  fear  that 
the  doctrine  of  perfect  love  which  casts  out  fear  and  purifies  the  heart  and  is 
the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ,  as  taught  in  the  Bible, 
and  explained  and  enforced  in  our  standards  as  a  distinct  and  practicable 
attainment,  is  too  much  overlooked  and  neglected.  This  was  a  paramount 
theme  in  the  discourses  of  our  fathers,  and  alike  in  their  private  conversa- 
tions as  in  their  public  ministrations,  they  urged  religious  people  to  go  on  to 
this  perfection  of  sanctifying  love.  The  revivals  which  followed  their  minis- 
try were  not  superficial  or  ephemeral.  Their  genuineness  and  power  were 
proved  by  the  holy  lives  and  triumphant  deaths  of  the  converts.  If  we  would 
be  like  them  in  power  and  usefulness,  we  must  resemble  them  in  holy  conse- 
cration. Nothing  is  so  much  needed  at  the  present  time  throughout  all  these 
lands,  as  a  general  and  powerful  revival  of  Scriptural  holiness. 

(Signed)    J.  O.  Andrew,  W.  M.  Wightman, 

R.  Paine,  E.  M.  Marvin, 

G.  F.  Pierce,  D.  S.  Doggett, 

H.  H.  Kavanaugh,    H.  X.  McTyeire.i 

Nothing  could  be  more  explicit  or  emphatic  than  their 
utterances  on  the  subject  of  worldly  amusements.  They 

say : 

Nothing  less  than  a  genuine  godliness  in  the  power  of  its  regenerating  in- 
fluence can  meet  the  necessities  of  the  case.  So  powerful  are  the  fascinations 
of  pleasure,  so  abounding  is  iniquity,  in  high  places  and  in  low,  that  the  love 
of  many  has  waxed  cold.  Young  persons  in  good  society  who  may  desire 
to  be  religious  are  especially  open  to  danger  from  the  tone  of  surrounding 
fashionable  society  and  from  the  plausibilities  of  the  worldly  spirit.  But 
there  can  be  no  compromise  here.    There  can  be  no  inward  experience  of 


1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1870,"  p.  164. 


ADDRESS  ON  WORLDL  Y  AMUSEMENTS. 


95 


grace,  no  valid  religion  of  the  heart,  which  is  not  preceded  by  a  full,  unre- 
served, irrevocable  commitment  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  This  commitment  in- 
volves self-denial,  taking  up  the  cross  and  following  Christ.  A  religion  of 
mere  culture,  of  amiabilities  and  esthetic  tastes,  of  sentiment,  opinion,  and 
ceremony,  may  readily  allow  participation  in  dancing  and  revelry,  in  theatri- 
cal and  operatic  and  circus  exhibitions,  and  in  the  gambling  operations  of  the 
turf.  But  the  religion  which  is  a  divine  life  in  the  soul  of  Christ's  true  dis- 
ciple heeds  the  voice  of  conscience  and  feels  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come. 
It  confers  the  dignity  of  holiness,  the  strength  of  self-denial,  the  glad  freedom 
of  a  spirit  rejoicing  in  the  right  and  good.  Such  a  religion  needs  not,  desires 
not,  allows  not  participation  in  worldly  pleasures,  in  diversions  which,  how- 
ever sanctioned  by  fashion,  are  felt  and  known  to  be  wrong  by  every  truly 
awakened  heart.  Its  spiritual  discernment  is  not  deceived  by  well-dressed 
plausibilities,  by  refinements  in  taste,  by  respectabilities  in  social  position. 
It  has  put  on  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  made  no  provision  for  the  flesh  to  fulfill 
the  lusts  thereof. 

In  conclusion,  we  beg  to  suggest  that  the  pastors  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  give  heed  to  these  things  in  the  administration  of  dis- 
cipline. The  Book  of  Discipline  provides  not  only  against  crimes  and  gross 
immoralities,  but  there  is  a  process  laid  down  for  cases  of  "  imprudent  con- 
duct "  as  well  as  for  indulging  sinful  tempers  and  words.  We  are  persuaded 
that  where  that  process  is  faithfully,  firmly,  but  kindly  followed,  these  grow- 
ing evils  will  be  arrested. 

Wise  words  of  wise  men,  to  which  the  church  and  minis- 
try would  do  well  to  take  heed  in  these  days  and  always. 
These  utterances  met  with  a  hearty  reception  and  response 
upon  the  part  of  the  ministers  composing  the  General 
Conference,  and  gave  the  watchword  to  the  militant  hosts 
of  the  church  for  the  ensuing  quadrennial  period.  In 
general,  the  spiritual  tone  and  quality  of  a  religious  move- 
ment or  body  does  not  rise  above  that  of  its  accepted  and 
recognized  leaders.  The  words  of  the  bishops  in  their 
pastoral  addresses  struck  a  high  spiritual  tone,  and  invited 
the  ministry  and  the  church  to  strive  after  high  and  worthy 
levels  of  Christian  experience  and  living.  The  following 
years  were  marked  by  general  and  generous  revivals  of 
religion.  There  was  a  large  ingathering  of  souls.  By  the 
time  of  the  next  quadrennial  convocation  there  was  an 
increase  of  126,299  members,  the  largest  the  church  had 


96 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  x. 


ever  yet  known  within  the  same  period.  And  this,  not- 
withstanding it  had  relinquished  not  less  than  60,000  of 
its  members  for  the  establishment  of  the  Colored  Meth- 
odist Church  in  the  latter  part  of  1870,  as  already  related. 
But  after  the  surrender  of  these  60,000  there  was  at  the 
roll-call  of  the  church  in  1874  a  grand  total  of  712,717 
members.  Two  new  conferences  were  provided  for  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  advancing  work — the  German 
Mission  Conference  in  Texas  and  the  Denver  in  the  West. 

In  1 87 1  Bishop  Andrew  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven.  He  was  to  the  last  a  great  and  good  man.  His 
last  words  were  :  "  God  bless  you  all !    Victory  !  victory ! " 

In  1873  Bishop  Early  died,  at  Lynchburg,  Va.  Though 
in  the  earlier  part  of  his  episcopal  career  he  had  given 
some  cause  of  dissatisfaction  on  account  of  his  peremptory 
manner  and  arbitrary  rulings,  and  was  seriously  complained 
of  at  the  General  Conference  of  1858,  after  that  time  he 
discharged  the  delicate  duties  of  that  eminent  office  with 
acceptability,  and  became  greatly  beloved  in  the  church 
for  his  Christian  virtues  and  his  long  and  varied  service. 
"  He  gave  the  days  of  the  years  of  his  youth  and  matur- 
ity to  the  active  service  of  the  church,  and  then,  amid  the 
infirmities  of  old  age,  illustrated  the  grace  of  God  by  pa- 
tient submission  and  the  triumph  of  faith  and  hope." 


CHAPTER  XL 


LEADING  EVENTS  FROM   1 874  TO   1 894. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1874,  held  in  Louisville, 
Ky.,  regularly  appointed  fraternal  delegates  from  th'e 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  appeared  for  the  first  time. 
Initiatory  movements,  however,  in  the  direction  of  fra- 
ternity had  preceded  this.  The  rejected  fraternal  dele- 
gate of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  to  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
1848,  had  said : 

You  will  regard  this  communication  as  final  on  the  part  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  She  can  never  renew  the  offer  of  fraternal  rela- 
tions between  the  two  great  bodies  of  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  the  United 
States.  But  the  proposition  can  be  renewed  at  any  time  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  And  if  ever  made  upon  the  basis  of  the  Plan  of  Separa- 
tion, as  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  the  Church,  South,  will 
cordially  entertain  the  proposition. 

This  action  of  their  delegate  was  approved  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1850.  Here  the  matter*  rested  until 
May,  1869,  when  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  invited  the  bishops  of  the  Southern  Church  to 
confer  with  them  "  on  the  propriety,  practicability,  and 
methods  of  reunion."  The  Southern  bishops  in  reply  in- 
vited the  attention  of  their  Northern  brethren  to  a  subject 
having  precedence  of  that  of  reunion,  namely,  the  cul- 
tivation of  fraternal  relations.  Accordingly,  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  its  ses- 
sion in  Brooklyn  in  1872  took  the  following  action: 

97  ' 


98  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  xi. 

To  place  ourselves  in  the  truly  fraternal  relations  toward  our  Southern 
brethren  which  the  sentiments  of  our  people  demand,  and  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  opening  of  formal  fraternity  with  them ;  it  is  hereby 

Resolved,  That  this  General  Conference  will  appoint  a  delegation,  consist- 
ing of  two  ministers  and  one  layman,  to  convey  our  fraternal  greetings  to  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  its  next 
ensuing  session. 

On  Friday,  the  eighth  day  of  the  session  of  the  General 
Conference  of  1874,  this  delegation,  consisting  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Albert  S.  Hunt,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Fowler, 
a,nd  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  having  announced  their  presence, 
were  formally  received.  Their  addresses  were  able,  elo- 
quent, courteous,  and  fraternal.  Says  the  journal :  "  Their 
utterances  warmed  our  hearts.  Their  touching  allusions 
to  the  common  heritage  of  Methodist  history,  to  our  one- 
ness of  doctrine,  polity,  and  usage,  and  their  calling  to 
mind  the  great  work  in  which  we  are  both  engaged  for  the 
extension  of  the  kingdom  of  their  Lord  and  ours,  stirred 
within  us  precious  memories."  The  General  Conference 
by  resolution  requested  the  bishops  to  appoint  a  delega- 
tion of  two  ministers  and  one  layman  to  bear  the  Chris- 
tian salutations  of  the  Southern  Church  to  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church;1  and  going  a  step  further,  they  passed  a  resolu- 
tion, "  That  in  order  to  remove  all  obstacles  to  formal  fra- 
ternity between  the  two  churches,  our  College  of  Bishops 
is  authorized  to  appoint  a  commission,  consisting  of  three 
ministers  and  two  laymen,  to  meet  a  similar  commission 
authorized  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  to  adjust  all  existing  difficulties." 
In  accordance  with  this  resolution  the  College  of  Bishops, 
at  their  annual  meeting  in  May,  1875,  appointed  the  five 
commissioners.  They  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  (now  Bishop) 
R.  K.  Hargrove,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  H.  Myers,  the 

1  These  were  Lovick  Pierce,  J.  A.  Duncan,  and  L.  C.  Garland. 


THE  CAPE  MAY  COMMISSION. 


99 


Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Finney,  and  the  Hon.  Trusten  Polk, 
of  Missouri,  and  Hon.  David  Clopton,  of  Alabama.  In 
1876  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  authorized  and  the  bishops  appointed  a  similar 
commission,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  (now  Bishop)  John 
P.  Newman,  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.  D'C.  Crawford,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  E.  Q.  Fuller,  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  and  Hon.  E.  L. 
Fancher.  The  commissioners  of  the  two  churches  met  in 
joint  session  at  Cape  May,  N.  J.,  August  17,  1876.  After 
a  session  of  six  days,  characterized  by  devout  supplication 
for  the  divine  blessing,  a  due  appreciation  of  the  pending 
issue,  and  the  exercise  of  becoming  Christian  candor,  they 
adopted  with  entire  unanimity,  as  the  basis  of  adjustment 
and  fraternal  reconciliation,  the  following: 

Declaration  and  Basis  of  Fraternity. 

Status  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  their  Coordinate  Relations  as  Legitimate  Branches 
of  Episcopal  Methodism. 

Each  of  said  churches  is  a  legitimate  branch  of  Episcopal  Methodism  in 
the  United  States,  having  a  common  origin  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  organized  in  1784;  and  since  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  was  consummated  in  1845,  by  the  voluntary  exercise 
of  the  right  of  the  Southern  Annual  Conferences,  ministers,  and  members, 
to  adhere  to  that  communion,  it  has  been  an  evangelical  church,  reared  on 
Scriptural  foundations ;  and  her  ministers  and  members,  with  those  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  have  constituted  one  Methodist  family,  though 
in  distinct  ecclesiastical  connections. 

It  was  next  incumbent  on  us  to  consider  the  questions  concerning  conflict- 
ing claims  to  church  property,  and  some  special  cases  that  could  not  conven- 
iently be  referred  to  the  operation  of  a  general  rule.  There  were  two  princi- 
pal questions  to  be  considered  with  regard  to  the  church  property  in  dispute 
between  local  societies  of  the  two  churches : 

1.  As  to  the  legal  ownership  of  said  property. 

2.  As  to  whether  it  will  consist  with  strict  equity,  or  promote  Christian 
harmony  or  the  cause  of  religion,  to  dispossess  those  societies  now  using 
church  property  which  was  originally  intended  for  their  use  and  occupancy, 
and  of  which  they  have  acquired  possession,  though  they  may  have  lost  legal 
title  to  it  by  their  transfer  from  the  one  church  to  the  other. 


IOO  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  XL 


We  have  considered  the  papers  in  all  cases  that  have  been  brought  to  our 
notice.  These  arose  in  the  following  States  :  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  Mary- 
land, Tennessee,  Louisiana,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina.  In  respect 
of  some  of  these  cases,  we  have  given  particular  directions ;  but  for  all  other 
cases  the  Joint  Commission  unanimously  adopted  the  following: 

RULES  FOR  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  ADVERSE  CLAIMS  TO  CHURCH  PROPERTY. 

Rule  I.  In  cases  not  adjudicated  by  the  Joint  Commission,  any  society  of 
either  church,  constituted  according  to  its  Discipline,  now  occupying  the 
church  property,  shall  remain  in  possession  thereof;  provided  that  where 
there  is  now,  in  the  same  place,  a  society  of  more  members  attached  to  the 
other  church,  and  which  has  hitherto  claimed  the  use  of  the  property,  the 
latter  shall  be  entitled  to  possession. 

Rule  II.  Forasmuch  as  we  have  no  power  to  annul  decisions  respecting 
church  property  made  by  the  State  courts,  the  Joint  Commission  ordain  in 
respect  thereof: 

1.  In  cases  in  which  such  a  decision  has  been  made,  or  in  which  there 
exists  an  agreement,  the  same  shall  be  carried  out  in  good  faith. 

2.  In  communities  where  there  are  two  societies — one  belonging  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  other  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South — which  have  adversely  claimed  the  church  property,  it  is  rec- 
ommended that,  without  delay,  they  amicably  compose  their  differences  irre- 
spective of  the  strict  legal  title,  and  settle  the  same  according  to  Christian 
principles,  the  equities  of  the  particular  case,  and,  so  far  as  practicable,  ac- 
cording to  the  principle  of  the  foregoing  rule.  But  if  such  settlement  cannot 
be  speedily  made,  then  the  question  shall  be  referred  for  an  equitable  decision 
to  three  arbitrators,  one  to  be  chosen  by  each  claimant  from  their  respective 
societies ;  and  the  two  thus  chosen  shall  select  a  third  person  not  connected 
with  either  of  said  churches,  and  the  decision  of  any  two  of  them  shall  be 
final. 

3.  In  communities  in  which  there  is  but  one  society,  Rule  I.  shall  be  faith- 
fully observed  in  the  interest  of  peace  and  fraternity. 

Rule  III.  Whenever  necessary  to  carry  the  aforegoing  rules  into  effect, 
the  legal  title  to  the  church  property  shall  be  accordingly  transferred. 
Rule  IV.  These  rules  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

This  was  understood  to  be  authoritative  and  final.  The 
year  following,  and  upon  the  acceptance  and  basis  of  this 
Cape  May  settlement,  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  appointed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cyrus  D.  Foss  and 
the  Hon.  YVm.  Cumback  as  fraternal  delegates  to  the  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Southern  Church  at 


THE  PUBLISHING  HOUSE  DEBT. 


IOI 


Atlanta  in  1878.  The  addresses  of  these  distinguished 
visitors  were  characterized  by  a  truly  fraternal  spirit,  and 
were  received  with  great  applause.  Responses  were  made 
by  the  venerable  Lovick  Pierce,  then  in  his  ninety-fourth 
year,  and  by  Bishop  Paine,  who  at  the  time  was  presiding. 
"  The  whole  scene  was  morally  sublime,  and  at  its  close 
the  conference  spontaneously  arose  and  sang  the  doxol- 

ogy."1 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1874  the  first  fraternal 
address  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Conference  to  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  received.  It  was  duly 
acknowledged  and  responded  to.2 

In  1862  the  Publishing  House,  under  the  management 
of  Dr.  McFerrin,  was  just  getting  rid  of  incumbrances  and 
embarrassments  and  entering  upon  a  career  of  prosperity 
and  usefulness,  when  it  was  seized  by  the  Federal  troops. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  war  it  was  used  as  a  United 
States  printing-office.  Owing  to  the  damage  of  the  build- 
ings and  the  destruction  of  machinery  during  this  period, 
and  the  debt  incurred  in  rebuilding  after  a  destructive  fire, 
its  condition  was  such  that  at  the  General  Conference  of 
1878  its  liabilities  were  found  to  be  about  $125,000  in 
excess  of  its  total  assets.  It  was  declared  insolvent.  The 
Book  Committee  was  authorized  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  dispose  of  machinery,  fixtures,  furniture,  and  real 
estate,  if  they  deemed  it  best,  in  order  to  meet  the  obli- 
gations of  the  house.  The  only  hope  was  to  rescue  the 
credit  and  save  the  good  name  of  the  church.  All  felt 
that  the  debt  must  be  paid.  But  how?  What  could  be 
done?  The  same  thought  occurred  simultaneously  to 
many :  put  McFerrin  back  as  Book  Agent ;  the  people  all 
know  him  and  believe  in  him ;  if  any  man  can  save  the 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1878,"  p.  117. 

2  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1874,"  pp.  375-77. 


102 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xi. 


wreck,  he  can.  But  he  held  back.  He  was  too  old  for  such 
a  burden  and  such  a  task.  (His  age  was  seventy-one.) 
Still  the  conviction  was  so  general  in  favor  of  his  election 
that  he  dared  not  peremptorily  decline.  When  the  result 
of  the  ballot  was  announced,  the  strong  old  man  wept.1 

A  Book  Committee  was  selected  to  reinforce  and  sup- 
port Dr.  McFerrin,  consisting  of  some  of  the  very  ablest 
business  men  in  the  whole  South.  Among  these  wise 
counselors  a  scheme  was  devised  for  bonding  the  enormous 
debt  of  $356,843,  and,  after  full  deliberation  and  consulta- 
tion, was  adopted.  But  to  sell  these  bonds  was  the  next 
thing,  and  not  an  easy  thing  to  do.  The  depressed  condi- 
tion of  the  institution,  the  disheartened  state  of  the  church, 
and  the  many  opportunities  for  profitable  investment  in 
other  and  safer  enterprises  in  the  South,  made  it  very 
improbable  that  men  of  means  would  be  willing  to  buy 
McFerrin's  four-percents.  The  details  of  the  scheme  were 
explained  through  the  church  papers,  and  the  members  were 
urged  to  rally  with  their  subscriptions.  Nashville  Meth- 
odists, including  the  members  of  the  Book  Committee  and 
the  Agent,  gave  the  movement  a  liberal  start,  and  when 
the  time  came  for  the  autumn  conferences,  Dr.  McFerrin 
was  ready  to  start  out  on  his  great  bond  campaign.2 
Wherever  he  went,  preachers  and  people  were  stirred  by 
his  appeals ;  confidence  returned  by  degrees ;  the  bonds 
were  taken  more  and  more  freely ;  confidence  rose  into 
enthusiasm ;  despair  gave  way  to  renewed  hope,  and  hope 
to  certainty,  that  the  Publishing  House  would  be  saved, 
the  honor  and  good  name  of  the  church  maintained ;  and 
a  grand  demonstration  was  made  of  the  denominational 
fealty  and  latent  power  of  the  Southern  Methodist  people. 
To  the  whole  church  belongs  the  honor  of  this  achieve- 

1  Fitzgerald's  "  Life  of  McFerrin,"  p.  360. 

2  Dr.  R.  A.  Young  assisted  him  in  this  important  work. 


VANDERBILT  UNIVERSITY. 


103 


ment;  but  to  McFerrin's  wonderful  hold  upon  the  confi- 
dence and  affection  of  the  church  and  his  masterful  lead- 
ership, more  than  to  what  was  done  by  any  other  man, 
must  this  deliverance  be  ascribed.1 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1878  Dr.  A.  W.  Wilson 
was  elected  missionary  secretary,  and  served  with  great 
ability  and  efficiency  during  the  quadrennium.  Dr.  O.  P. 
Fitzgerald  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Nashville  Christian 
Advocate,"  and  during  the  twelve  years  of  his  incumbency 
made  one  of  the  brightest,  breeziest,  and  most  popular  re- 
ligious weeklies  in  the  nation.  One  new  conference  was 
provided  for  by  the  General  Conference  of  1878,  the  Mon- 
tana, and  was  organized  in  September,  1879. 

When  the  grand  total  of  the  membership  was  reckoned 
up,  it  was  found  to  be  only  a  little  less  than  800,000,  or, 
in  exact  figures,  798,862. 

Through  the  years  following,  the  progress  of  the  church 
was  steady  and  continuous,  and  her  work  was  rapidly  de- 
veloping and  extending  in  every  direction.  Her  activities 
were  continually  multiplied.  Increasing  thousands  were 
annually  gathered  within  her  folds.  Her  educational  zeal 
and  enterprise  received  fresh  accessions,  and  her  educa- 
tional institutions  were  growing  in  number  and  efficiency. 
In  April,  1874,  the  cornerstone  of  the  great  Vanderbilt 
University  was  laid  with  impressive  ceremonies  amid 
universal  rejoicings.  In  1875  her  halls  were  opened  for 
the  reception  of  students.  Students  came  and  have  been 
coming  in  increasing  numbers  and  with  increasing  enthu- 
siasm through  all  the  intervening  years.  In  every  way 
this  noble  institution  has  grown,  until  to-day  it  is  recog- 
nized as  perhaps  the  leading  institution  of  learning  in  the 
South,  and  is  second  to  but  few  in  the  nation. 

The  missionary  spirit  of  the  church  was  much  quickened 

1  Fitzgerald's  "  Life  of  McFerrin,"  p.  367. 


104 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  XI. 


and  her  missionary  activities  greatly  increased  during  these 
years,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter.  At  no  previous 
time  did  the  church  enjoy  richer  evidences  of  the  divine 
favor  or  possess  in  a  greater  degree  the  elements  of  pros- 
perity and  power.  Meanwhile  her  ranks  were  filling  up 
with  young  men  of  promise  to  take  the  place  of  the  veter- 
ans who  were  dropping  out  of  the  ranks.  And  the  veter- 
ans were  dropping  out.  The  church  lost  one  of  her  best 
and  ablest  men  for  every  year  of  the  quadrennium  1878-82. 

In  1880  Bishop  Doggett,  a  princely  man,  and  a  prince 
among  preachers,  after  serving  his  generation  by  the  will 
of  God,  died  in  peace,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  Hollywood 
Cemetery  in  Richmond,  Va. 

In  February,  1882,  just  before  the  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  Bishop  Wightman,  who,  by  the  will  of 
God,  had  served  two  generations,  fell  asleep  and  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  General  Conference  of  1882,  in 
Nashville,  the  Senior  Superintendent,  Bishop  Paine,  made 
an  affecting  address  to  his  brethren,  and  asked  that,  "  worn 
down  by  age  and  infirmities,  he  might  be  permitted  to  re- 
tire from  active  service."  For  sixty-four  years  he  had 
been  an  effective  traveling  preacher ;  for  thirty-six  years 
an  efficient  general  superintendent.  But  the  limit  now 
was  reached.  He  was  able  to  bear  the  burden  and  do  the 
work  no  longer.  On  May  3,  1882,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three,  he  was  retired  from  active  service.  On  May  22d, 
unable  to  attend  further  upon  the  session  of  the  General 
Conference,  he  departed  to  his  home  in  Mississippi.  On 
the  19th  of  October  following  he  departed  for  his  home 
beyond  the  stars. 

On  the  opening  day  of  the  General  Conference  of  1882, 
Wednesday,  May  3d,  Dr.  Thomas  O.  Summers  was,  for  the 
eighth  time,  elected  secretary  of  that  body.     On  Saturday 


DR.  THOMAS  O.  SUMMERS. 


I05 


morning,  May  6th,  immediately  after  the  opening,  the  pre- 
siding bishop  announced  that  Dr.  Summers  was  dead.  The 
prayer  of  his  favorite  hymn  was  literally  fulfilled : 

Oh,  that  without  a  lingering  groan 

I  may  the  welcome  word  receive, 
My  body  with  my  charge  lay  down, 

And  cease,  at  once,  to  work  and  live. 

Dr.  Summers  was  a  born  Englishman.  His  early  ad- 
vantages were  not  great.  He  was  a  man  of  prodigious 
labor,  however,  and  he  came  to  be  a  man  of  extraordinary 
attainments  and  cyclopedic  knowledge.  He  was  positive 
in  his  convictions,  dogmatic  in  his  utterances,  blunt  in  his 
manner ;  but  he  was  a  true  and  noble  man  and  a  loving- 
hearted  Christian. 

He  was  for  many  years  the  editor  of  the  "  Nashville 
Christian  Advocate,"  and  for  some  time  the  editor  of  the 
"  Southern  Methodist  Quarterly  Review."  Only  a  few  of 
the  older  men  in  the  church  can  remember  the  time  when 
he  was  not  Book  Editor.  He  was  himself  the  author  of 
several  books,  the  best  known  of  which  are  his  Commen- 
taries on  the  New  Testament  books  from  Matthew  to 
Romans,  and  his  able  and  learned  work  on  Systematic 
Theology,  in  two  noble  octavo  volumes.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  dean  of  the  theological  department  of 
Vanderbilt  University  and  Professor  of  Systematic  Theol- 
ogy. As  a  preacher  his  sermons  were  too  dull,  and  as  an 
editor  his  articles  were  too  heavy,  to  be  popular.  Yet 
for  his  work  and  his  personal  character  he  had  come  to  be 
so  beloved  that  his  death  fell  with  the  weight  of  a  personal 
bereavement  upon  the  whole  church.  His  biography  has 
been  well  written  by  Dr.  (now  Bishop)  Fitzgerald,  his 
successor  in  the  editorship  of  the  "  Advocate." 

The  most  important  action  of  the  General  Conference 


io6 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  XI. 


of  1882  was  the  creation  of  the  Board  of  Church  Exten- 
sion and  the  election  of  the  clear-headed  and  indefatigable 
Dr.  David  Morton  as  secretary  and  general  superintendent. 
Under  the  phenomenally  successful  management  of  this 
*man  "  with  a  telescopic  mind  and  a  microscopic  eye,"  this 
arm  of  church  work  has  developed  an  efficiency  and  use- 
fulness which  far  exceed  the  expectations  of  its  most 
sanguine  friends  and  supporters.  The  General  Board  was 
fully  organized  and  its  plans  formulated  at  a  meeting  held 
in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  June,  1882.  Bylaws  were  adopted, 
a  plan  of  campaign  was  mapped  out,  and  the  first  annual 
assessment  of  $50,000  was  made.  In  the  eleven  years 
since  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Church  Extension 
the  total  receipts  have  been  considerably  over  $700,000; 
and  the  last  annual  report  shows  that  the  board  has  built, 
helped  to  build,  or  otherwise  aided  one  church  for  each 
week-day  and  two  for  each  Sunday  in  the  year.  The 
total  number  of  churches  built  or  aided  by  the  board 
since  1882  is  2510.  The  only  serious  problem  which  the 
church  has  in  connection  with  this  work  is  to  find  a  man  to 
fill  Dr.  Morton's  place  and  do  his  work,  when  age  or  in- 
firmity shall  have  rendered  him  incapable  of  further  sen  ice. 

The  General  Conference  of  1882  authorized  the  crea- 
tion of  two  new  conferences,  the  Central  Mexico  Mission 
Conference  and  the  Mexican  Border  Mission  Conference, 
which  were  not  long  afterward  organized,  the  one  by 
Bishop  Keener,  the  other  by  Bishop  McTyeire. 

The  unprecedented  number  of  five  bishops  was  elected : 
A.  W.  Wilson,  Linus  Parker,  A.  G.  Haygood,  John  C. 
Granbery,  and  Robert  K.  Hargrove  (though  Dr.  Haygood 
declined).  Dr.  Robt.  A.  Young  was  elected  missionary 
secretary. 

The  fraternal  message  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1882  was  borne  by  the  ge- 
nial and  gentle,  but  able  and  eloquent  Dr.  Henry  Bascom 


THE  CENTENARY  OF  AMERICAN  METHODISM.  107 

Ridgaway,  and  the  glowing  words  of  this  genuinely  fra- 
ternal man  made  and  left  a  delightful  impression  upon 
those  who  were  present,  and  upon  the  whole  church. 

The  first  Ecumenical  Conference  of  the  Methodisms  of 
the  world  was  held  in  London  in  1 881.  In  this  memor- 
able gathering  the  Southern  Methodist  Church  was  fully 
and  worthily  represented.  According  to  the  English 
papers,  that  church  furnished  two  of  the  three  American 
representatives  who  made  a  distinct  personal  impression. 
These  were  the  inimitable  and  irresistible  Dr.  John  B. 
McFerrin  and  the  weighty  and  dignified  Bishop  McTyeire, 
with  his  massive  head  and  face  and  thought,  his  slow,  de- 
liberate speech,  his  fog-horn  voice,  and  his  unepiscopal, 
unconventional,  cutaway  coat. 

In  the  General  Conference  of  the  Southern  Church  in 
1878  a  movement  was  initiated  looking  to  a  centenary 
celebration  of  the  organization  of  American  Methodism. 
No  fact  in  the  history  of  American  Christianity  can  be 
considered  of  equal  importance  with  that  which  took  place 
in  an  humble  chapel  in  Baltimore  in  December,  1784.  It 
was  therefore  worthy  of  commemoration  by  the  Methodists 
of  a  hundred  years  after.  And  as  that  far-reaching  event 
took  place  upon  Southern  territory,  it  was  fitting  that  the 
centenary  movement  should  originate  in  the  Southern 
division  of  Methodism.  Accordingly,  the  bishops  of  the 
Southern  Church  were  requested  in  behalf  of  the.  General 
Conference  to  open  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  with 
the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  pres- 
idents of  the  several  conferences  in  Canada,  and  of  all  other 
Methodist  bodies  on  the  continent,  and  these  bishops  and 
presidents  in  conjunction  were  to  arrange  and  mature  a 
suitable  program  for  a  fitting  celebration  of  the  centenary 
of  the  organization  of  American  Methodism.  The  sug- 
gestion was  concurred  in  by  the  other  branches  of  Meth- 
odism in  the  country.    The  arrangements  for  the  part 


io8 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xi. 


which  the  Southern  Church  was  to  take  were  completed 
in  the  General  Conference  of  1882.  The  celebration  was 
duly  observed  in  December,  1884,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore 
by  a  great  gathering  of  representatives  of  all  the  Meth- 
odist bodies,  white  and  colored,  in  America.  In  the  ex- 
uberance of  fraternal  feeling  and  the  tide  of  spiritual  emo- 
tion it  surpassed  any  inter- Methodistic  gathering  that  has 
been  held  before  or  since.  It  was  a  veritable  love-feast, 
not  of  American  Methodists  only,  but  of  American  Meth- 
odisms.  Nor  was  it  an  enthusiasm  of  mere  emotion,  but 
of  genuine  gratitude  and  practical  benevolence.  The  cen- 
tenary year  was  a  season  of  generous  giving  upon  the  part 
of  Methodists  everywhere.  The  special  centennial  offer- 
ings of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the 
year  1884  amounted  to  $1,382, 771. 1 

In  the  midst  of  the  activity  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
centenary  year  the  church  was  in  mourning  for  the  death 
of  two  of  her  most  honored  and  best  beloved  bishops. 
These  were  H.  H.  Kavanaugh,  of  Kentucky,  and  George  F. 
Pierce,  of  Georgia. 

They  were  both  members  of  the  General  Conference  of 
1844  and  of  every  succeeding  one  down  to  1854,  when  they 
were  elected'  to  the  episcopal  office.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  Bishop  Kavanaugh  was  eighty-two  years  of  age 
and  had  been  a  bishop  thirty  years;  Bishop  Pierce  was 
seventy-three  years  of  age,  and  had  been  a  bishop  for 
thirty  years. 

In  physique,  Bishop  Kavanaugh  was  below  the  ordinary 
stature ;  but  what  was  lacking  in  length  was  made  up  in 
breadth  and  bulk.  His  neck  was  short,  his  head  massive, 
his  hair  short  and  stiff.  His  face,  though  not  handsome, 
was  radiant  with  imperturbable  good-humor.     In  spirit 

1  It  was  in  the  centenary  year  that  Bishop  McTyeire  published  his  noble 
work  on  "  The  History  of  Methodism." 


BISHOPS  KA  VAN  A  UGH  AND  PIERCE. 


and  manner  he  was  as  simple  and  transparent  as  a  little 
child.  As  a  preacher  he  was  unequal.  There  were  times 
when  his  eloquence  was  rapturous,  overwhelming.  But 
depending,  as  he  did,  on  the  occasion  for  inspiration,  he 
sometimes  limped  in  preaching.  Nevertheless,  his  great 
power  as  a  preacher  gained  for  him  the  title  of  "  the  old 
man  eloquent."  As  a  presiding  officer,  he  was  amiable 
to  laxity.  It  is  even  said  that  on  one  or  two  occasions  he 
took  a  little  nap  while  presiding  in  General  Conference. 
But  he  was  so  beloved  that  everybody,  except  perhaps 
Bishop  Keener,  excused  and  enjoyed  these  amiable  small 
faults  of  the  noble  old  man. 

Bishop  Pierce,  of  Georgia,  son  of  Lovick  Pierce,  was  every 
way  a  marvelous  man.  His  form  was  majestic.  He  bore 
himself  like  a  king.  His  eye  was  black  and  lustrous.  His 
cheek  glowed  with  the  rosy  hue  of  health.  His  every 
movement  was  grace.  His  voice  was  clear  and  mellow  ;  its 
highest  tones  were  musical  and  sympathetic.  His  style  was 
direct,  his  metaphors  novel  and  striking,  his  illustrations 
pertinent  and  persuasive,  and  his  pathos  often  kindled  to 
a  heat  of  rapture  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Whether  before  the  most  cultured  audience  or  the  plainest, 
he  was  alike  master.  He  preached  in  a  metropolitan  church 
with  all  the  ease  with  which  he  preached  to  a  congregation 
of  negro  slaves,  and  he  preached  to  the  slaves  with  as  much 
beauty  and  pathos  and  power  as  to  the  great  men  and 
women  of  the  earth.1  I  have  heard  Beecher  and  Talmage 
and  Hall  and  Taylor  and  Simpson  and  Spurgeon  and  Lid- 
don  and  Farrar  and  Punshon  and  Parker ;  but  I  was  never 
so  moved,  or  saw  people  so  moved,  by  the  preaching  of 
any  man  as  by  that  of  George  F.  Pierce,  of  Georgia. 

In  the  next  year  (1885)  occurred  the  death  of  one  of 
the  younger  bishops,  Linus  Parker,  of  Louisiana.     He  had 

1  See  Smith's  "  Life  of  Bishop  Pierce." 


IIO  THE  METHODISTS,  SOL  TIT  [Chap.  xi. 


filled  the  episcopal  office  with  acceptability  for  three  years. 
The  death  of  three  bishops  within  less  than  a  year  made 
it  necessary  for  the  General  Conference  of  1886  to  elect 
others.  Accordingly  four  were  elected  and  ordained  at 
the  session  in  Richmond :  W.  W.  Duncan,  Charles  B. 
Galloway,  E.  R.  Hendrix,  and  Joseph  S.  Key. 

It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  and  one  of  the  excellen- 
cies of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church  that  it  avoids  all 
connection  with  politics.  This  very  virtue  has,  however, 
sometimes  been  misunderstood  and  misinterpreted,  and 
has  given  occasion  for  the  charge  that  the  Southern  Church 
shrinks  from  committing  herself  on  great  social  and  moral 
questions  and  from  taking  part  in  great  social  and  moral 
movements.  If  any  denial  of  that  charge  were  necessary, 
the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1886  on  two  of 
the  most  vital  moral  issues  of  the  day  would  be  a  sufficient 
refutation. 

Their  deliverance  on  the  subject  of  temperance  and 
prohibition  speaks  for  itself : 

We  rejoice  in  the  widespread  and  unprecedented  interest,  both  in  the  church 
and  out  of  it,  in  behalf  of  temperance  and  prohibitory  law.  The  public  has 
awakened  to  the  necessity  of  both  legal  and  moral  suasion  to  control  the 
great  evils  stimulated  and  fostered  by  the  liquor  traffic.  We  recognize  in 
the  license  system  a  sin  against  society.  Its  essential  immorality  cannot  be 
affected  by  the  question  whether  the  license  be  high  or  low.  The  effectual 
prohibition  of  the  manufacture,  sale,  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  would 
be  emancipation  from  the  greatest  curse  that  now  afflicts  our  race.  The  total 
removal  of  the  cause  of  intemperance  is  the  only  remedy.  This  is  the  great- 
est moral  question  now  before  our  people.  The  fact  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  spend  for  strong  drink  $900,000,000  annually  is  not  the  most 
important  aspect  of  the  subject,  but  the  fact  that  it  is  the  enemy  of  the  church, 
the  source  of  crime,  the  cause  of  poverty  and  suffering,  wretchedness  and 
death,  and  that  its  readiest  victims  are  our  young  men,  thousands  of  whom 
are  every  year  swept  by  it  into  dissipation,  dishonor,  debauchery,  death,  and 
damnation.  We  cannot  withhold  our  emphatic  deliverance  on  the  subject, 
especially  in  view  of  the  prevailing  agitation  of  the  question  of  prohibition. 
Therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Conference  of  the  If.  E.  Church,  South,  is  op- 


PROHIBITION  AND  DIVORCE. 


I  1  I 


posed  to  the  manufacture,  sale,  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  except  for 
medicinal  and  mechanical  purposes,  and  that  we  will  continue  to  agitate  the 
subject  of  prohibition  as  a  great  moral  question,  and  will  strive,  with  all  good 
citizens  and  by  all  proper  and  honorable  means,  to  banish  the  horrible  curse 
from  our  beloved  church  and  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  time  has  now  come  when  the  church,  through  its  press 
and  pulpit,  its  individual  and  organized  agencies,  should  speak  out  in  strong 
language  and  stronger  action  in  favor  of  the  total  removal  of  this  great  evil.1 

The  General  Conference  recommended  that  the  Sunday- 
school  editor  statedly  provide  for  a  Scripture  lesson  on 
temperance,  and  that  those  in  charge  of  schools  or  colleges 
controlled  or  indorsed  by  the  church,  see  that  the  children 
and  youth  are  properly  instructed  touching  the  effect  of 
alcoholic  stimulants  on  the  human  system. 

The  manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  upon  the 
part  of  church-members  is  absolutely  forbidden.  The  law 
is  explicit  and  emphatic  :  "  If  any  preacher  or  member  shall 
engage  in  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
to  be  used  as  a  beverage,  let  the  Discipline  be  adminis- 
tered as  in  cases  of  immorality.''12 

The  other  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1886  re- 
ferred to  above,  was  upon  the  subject  of  divorce.  After  a 
long  and  strong  preamble  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  no  minister  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South,  knowingly,  upon  due  inquiry,  shall  solemnize  the 
marriage  of  any  person  who  has  a  divorced  wife  or  hus- 
band still  living."3 

The  increase  of  the  membership  of  the  church  during 
the  quadrennium  ending  in  1886  was  larger  than  it  had 
ever  been  during  any  similar  period  in  its  history.  Nearly 
200,000  members  had  been  added  in  that  time,  and  the 
grand  total  rose  in  the  year  1886  to  1,066,377. 

The  eleventh  and  last  General  Conference  was  held  in 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1886,"  pp.  198,  199. 

2  "  Discipline  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,"  p.  129. 

3  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1886,"  p.  233. 


I  12 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xi. 


Centenary  Church  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  in  May,  1890, 
just  forty  years  from  the  time  when  the  second  General 
Conference  was  held  in  the  same  city  and  the  same  church 
(in  1850).  The  number  of  delegates  in  attendance  was  294. 
Resolutions  on  worldliness  were  unanimously  adopted,  ex- 
plicitly condemning  "  theater-going,  dancing,  card-playing, 
and  the  like,  as  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and 
violative  of  the  General  Rules  and  moral  discipline  of  the 
church,  as  also  of  the  vows  of  our  church-members."1  A 
committee  of  fifteen  was  appointed  to  consider  and  report 
on  the  "state  of  the  church."  Their  report  is  a  strong, 
clear,  and  ringing  document,  and  but  for  its  length  and 
the  limitations  of  our  space  would  deserve  a  place  in  these 
pages.     It  is  given  in  full  in  the  Discipline  of  1890. 

On  the  subject  of  temperance  they  vigorously  declare 
and  resolve  that  "  voluntary  total  abstinence  from  all  in- 
toxicants is  the  true  ground  of  personal  temperance,  and 
complete  legal  prohibition  of  the  traffic  the  duty  of  gov- 
ernment."2 

The  phenomenal  advance  made  during  the  preceding 
period  of  four  years,  in  all  departments  of  church  work,  is 
indicated  by  the  provisions  made  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence for  the  increased  efficiency  of  all  the  coordinated 
agencies  of  the  church.  Two  additional  secretaries  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  were  provided  for  and  elected.  An 
additional  secretary  for  the  Board  of  Church  Extension 
was  authorized.  An  assistant  Book  Agent,  an  assistant 
editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  and  an  assistant  Sun- 
day-school editor  were  elected  by  the  Conference.  The 
Book  Agents  were  authorized  to  publish,  as  one  of  the 
general  organs  of  the  church,  the  "  Pacific  Methodist 
Advocate  "  at  San  Francisco.    The  Epworth  League  was 

1  See  Discipline,  edition  of  1890,  p.  391. 

2  "  Journal  of  General  Conference  of  1890,"  p.  212. 


GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1890.  I  1 3 

adopted  by  the  General  Conference  and  provision  made  for 
establishing  leagues  throughout  the  church.  Four  new 
conferences  were  constituted  and  organized  in  the  year 
1890-91,  the  Western  North  Carolina,  the  East  Columbia, 
the  New  Mexico,  and  the  Northwest  Mexican  Mission. 
The  China  Mission  and  the  Brazil  Mission  had  been 
erected  into  conferences  in  1886,  and  organized  as  confer- 
ences, the  one  in  1886,  the  other  in  1887.  The  church  has 
now  forty-three  Annual  Conferences.  The  statistics  for  the 
year  1890  were:  traveling  preachers,  5042;  local  preach- 
ers, 6366;  white  and  Indian  members,  1,206,611  ;  colored 
members,  534;  and  altogether,  1,218,561. 

A  notable  incident  of  the  General  Conference  of  1890 
was  the  reception  and  address  of  the  Rev.  David  J.  Waller, 
the  first  fraternal  delegate  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Con- 
ference to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Mr. 
Waller,  both  by  his  personal  bearing  and  his  instructive 
and  courteous  address,  produced  an  exceedingly  favorable 
impression. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1890,  A.  G.  Haygood 
and  D.  P.  Fitzgerald  were  elected  bishops. 

The  quadrennium  was  marked  by  the  death  of  two  of 
the  very  foremost  men  of  the  church.  In  May,  1887,  Dr. 
McFerrin  died,  and  the  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by 
Bishop  McTyeire,  who,  in  less  than  two  years  after,  fol- 
lowed his  friend  to  the  undiscovered  country. 

Bishop  McTyeire  is  buried  along  with  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  and  Bishop  Soule  on  the  campus  of  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity. His  fitting  epitaph  is,  "  He  was  a  leader  of  men 
and  a  lover  of  children." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  MISSIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

i.  Missions  to  the  Negroes. 

Up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861  the  mission  work 
of  the  Southern  Church  was  principally  confined  to  the 
slave  population  of  the  South.  The  Southern  Methodists 
recognized  this  as  a  vast  opportunity,  and  to  this  work  they 
felt  themselves  specially  called.  For  the  most  part,  the 
same  pastor  preached  the  gospel  to  master  and  slave,  in 
the  same  church,  as  parts  of  one  congregation.  The  gal- 
lery, or  some  other  portion  of  the  church,  was  set  apart  for 
the  slaves.  In  addition  to  this,  the  pastor  who  preached 
to  all  together  in  the  forenoon  of  Sunday  would  preach  to 
the  slaves  from  the  same  pulpit  in  the  afternoon.  When 
special  services  were  held  for  the  colored  people,  they  oc- 
cupied the  body  of  the  church,  while  the  white  people  who 
attended  were  seated  in  that  part  of  the  church  usually 
assigned  to  the  negroes.1  One  of  the  early  reports  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  one  of  the  Southern  conferences 
has  these  words :  "  The  gospel  is  the  same  for  all  men, 
and  to  enjoy  its  privileges  in  common  promotes  good- will." 
Consequently  it  was  declared  to  be  the  duty  of  all  congre- 
gations to  supply  necessary  and  suitable  accommodations 
for  the  colored  people,  "  in  order  that  none  of  them  might 
make  such  neglect  a  plea  for  staying  away  from  public 
worship."    If  a  separate  building  was  provided  for  them, 

1  See  Dr.  John's  "  Handbook  of  Methodist  Missions,"  p.  83,  and 
McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  584. 

114 


EARL  Y  A  TTEMPTS.  I  I  5 

as  was  sometimes  the  case,  the  negro  congregation  was 
an  appendage  to  the  white,  the  pastor  usually  preaching 
once  on  Sunday  for  them,  holding  official  meetings  with 
their  leaders,  exhorters,  and  preachers,  and  administering 
discipline. 

But  large  numbers  of  the  slaves  were  isolated  on  the 
rice,  sugar,  and  cotton  plantations,  especially  in  the  further 
South.  The  regular  ministry  did  not  reach  these,  inhab- 
iting, as  they  did,  a  distant  and  malarial  region  in  which  but 
few  white  people  were  found.  Attempts  had  been  made  as 
early  as  1809  to  give  the  gospel  to  some  of  these  remote 
plantation  communities.  In  that  year  the  South  Carolina 
Conference  had  sent  out  two  missionaries,  James  H.  Mel- 
lard  to  the  slaves  on  the  Savannah  River,  and  James  E. 
Glenn1  to  those  on  the  Santee.  But  there  were  so  many 
obstacles  in  the  way  that  the  work  was  soon  given  up. 
The  attitude  of  the  Methodists  and  the  Methodist  General 
Conferences  on  the  subject  of  slavery  gave  rise  to  suspi- 
cions and  to  opposition  upon  the  part  of  the  planters,  and 
access  to  their  slaves  was  denied.  Later,  however,  when 
the  preachers  had  come  to  see  the  necessity  of  adjusting 
themselves  to  the  situation  and  the  legislation  of  the 
General  Conference  was  toned  down,  as  we  have  related 
in  Chapter  I.,  the  work  was  taken  up  again.  In  1828, 
through  the  efforts  of  a  pious  lady,  a  large  planter  gave 
his  consent  that  a  Methodist  preacher  should  work  among 
his  slaves.  This  was  the  Rev.  George  W.  Moore.  He 
was  not  regularly  appointed  by  the  conference.  But  this 
did  not  deter  him  from  preaching  to  these  darkened  souls 

1  "  It  was  Mr.  Glenn  who  received  into  his  home  at  Cokesbury  a  young 
Vermonter  going  South  in  182 1  with  shattered  health  and  unsettled  religious 
principles.  This  young  Northerner  was  converted  and  developed  in  the 
South.  He  became  first  president  of  Randolph-Macon  College  in  Virginia, 
and  died  while  president  of  Wesleyan  University  in  Connecticut.  No  man 
had  more  to  do  with  shaping  the  life  of  Stephen  Olin  than  James  E.  Glenn." 
— McTyeire's  "History." 


n6 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOL  TIE 


[Chap.  xii. 


with  all  the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  a  heart  that  counted  no 
labor  too  exacting,  no  service  too  lowly,  in  the  cause  of  his 
Master.1  The  results  of  Mr.  Moore's  preaching  to  the  slaves 
were  such  that  application  was  made  by  several  of  the  plant- 
ers to  the  South  Carolina  Conference  for  missionaries  to 
be  regularly  sent  to  preach  to  their  people.  Accordingly 
in  1829,  through  the  influence  of  the  Rev.  William  Capers, 
the  missionary  society  of  that  conference  sent  out  two 
preachers  for  this  special  work,  Rev.  John  Honour  to  the 
plantations  south  of  the  Ashley  River,  and  Rev.  John 
H.  Massey  to  those  south  of  the  Santee.2  Rev.  William 
Capers  was  made  superintendent  of  these  missions.  Mr. 
Honour,  succumbing  to  the  malaria  of  the  region,  died  the 
same  year  (1829).  "  He  was  a  noble,  zealous  Christian 
minister,  not  ashamed  of  the  lowly  work  to  which  he  had 
been  called,  but  joyfully  resigning  even  life  itself  in  the 
cause."  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  George  W.  Moore. 
Rev.  James  Danelly  was  sent  to  a  mission  on  the  Savannah 
River,  and  the  work  extended.  The  operations  of  the  first 
year  gathered  417  church-members.  The  experiment, 
eyed  with  distrust  by  most  of  the  planters,  denounced  by 
many  as  a  hurtful  and  perilous  innovation,  favored  by 
very  few,  had  been  commenced.  It  was  found  that  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  with  the  simplicity  and  directness 
of  the  Methodists  was  understood  by  the  negroes  and  took 
well  with  them  ;  that,  combined  with  the  regular  discipline 
of  the  church,  it  produced  a  distinct  improvement  in  their 
moral  character  and  habits,  making  them  sober,  industri- 
ous, honest,  and  contented.  Prejudice  fell  away  little  by 
little.  Doubt  and  distrust  brightened  into  approval.  The 
time  for  enlargement  was  come.  The  door  of  access  to 
these  thousands  of  Africa's  benighted  children  was  open- 

1  "  The  Gospel  Among  the  Slaves,"  p.  154. 

2  Id.,  p.  155. 


UNMONUMENTED  HEROES. 


117 


ing  wider  and  wider.1  The  movement,  begun  in  South 
Carolina,  soon  extended  throughout  the  whole  connection. 
Missions  were  organized  in  all  the  conferences,  and  men, 
carefully  chosen  for  the  work,  devoted  their  entire  time 
to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  slaves.  They  assembled 
them  in  congregations,  preached  to  them  the  gospel, 
instructed  and  comforted  the  penitents,  baptized  the 
converted,  organized  them  into  societies,  administered  to 
them  the  holy  communion,  visited  and  prayed  with  them 
in  their  cabins,  ministered  to  their  sick,  and  buried  their 
dead.  In  South  Carolina  alone  at  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Bishop  Capers  (1854)  there  were  twenty-six  mission 
stations  on  the  plantations,  served  by  thirty-two  regularly 
appointed  preachers,  and  counting  a  membership  of  over  ten 
thousand  negroes  and  over  a  thousand  whites,  or,  in  exact 
figures,  10,371  of  the  former  and  1175  of  the  latter.  The 
contributions  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference  for  the  work 
for  that  year  (1854)  amounted  to  $25,000.  Nor  was  this 
difficult  and  uninviting  work  left  to  or  thrust  upon  preachers 
of  inferior  quality  or  ability.  Indeed,  the  planters  declared 
that  they  were  unwilling  to  receive  young  or  indiscreet  or 
untried  men  to  go  in  and  out  among  their  slaves  as  their 
moral  and  spiritual  advisers.  "  Some  of  the  best  preachers 
of  Southern  Methodism  spent  their  best  days  in  this  work," 
says  one  who  had  large  personal  knowledge  of  the  field. 
There  were  W.  C.  Kirkland  (father  of  the  present  chan- 
cellor of  Vanderbilt  University),  G.  W.  Moore,  Charles 
Wilson,  Coburn,  Boyd,  Bunch,  Ledbetter,  Turpin,  Rush, 
Skidmore,  Carr,  Steele,  and  many  others — unmonumented 
heroes  of  earth,  whose  record  is  safe  in  the  keeping  of  God. 
It  is  not  possible  in  the  brief  space  allotted  to  this  history 
to  recount  the  toils,  the  privations,  the  sufferings,  the 

1  Dr.  Wightman  in  "Southern  Quarterly  Review,"  quoted  by  McTyeire, 
P.  585. 


n8 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  xii. 


martyr-like  self-immolation,  the  apostolic  successes  of  these 
humble  Methodist  preachers,  who,  in  the  isolation  of  the 
remote  plantations,  amid  the  pestilential  malaria  of  the 
river-bottoms  and  the  rice-swamps  of  the  far  South,  min- 
istered the  evangel  of  divine  love  and  salvation  to  the 
lowly  sons  and  daughters  of  that  benighted  race ;  and 
who,  away  back  in  those  dim  and  distant  years,  did  more 
than  all  other  agencies  combined  to  prepare  them  for  the 
responsibilities  of  freedom  and  citizenship,  as  well  as  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  A  volume  might  be  written  of 
the  Acts  of  these  Apostles  to  the  Southern  slaves.  In- 
deed, such  a  volume  has  been  written.1  It  remains  for 
some  magnanimous  negro  of  the  future  to  propose,  and  for 
his  magnanimous  fellow-negroes  of  all  classes,  North  and 
South,  East  and  West,  to  erect,  on  some  suitable  spot,  a 
worthy  and  enduring  monument  to  the  memory  of  the 
noble  and  self-forgetting  Southern  Methodist  preachers 
who,  in  much  patience,  in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in 
labors,  in  watchings,  in  fastings,  in  weariness  and  painful- 
ness  and  perils,  in  honor  and  dishonor,  through  evil  report 
and  good  report,  christianized  their  fathers.2 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  division  of  the  church,  in  1844, 
these  Southern  Methodist  preachers  had  gathered  into 
church-membership  over  a  hundred  thousand  African 
slaves.3  And  it  was  for  the  opportunity  and  privilege  of 
continuing  this  work  that  they  made  their  stand  in  1844.4 

1  "  The  Gospel  Among  the  Slaves,"  p.  394,  by  Miss  Annie  Maria  Barnes 
and  Dr.  W.  P.  Harrison.    Nashville,  Barbee  &  Smith,  1893. 

2  "  In  the  neighborhood  where  I  lived  during  the  war  in  Alabama  the  sound 
of  a  trumpet  would  have  called  up  five  thousand  colored  men  and  not  over 
fifty  white  men.  The  white  men  had  gone  off  to  the  war  and  left  their  wives, 
children,  and  property  in  the  care  of  the  negroes.  Not  a  crime  was  com- 
mitted."—Dr.  R.  H.  Rivers,  in  "  Central  Methodist,"  January  27,  1894.  The 
same  was  true  everywhere.  To  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  as  above  related, 
it  was  due  that  the  crimes  now  so  frequent  were  almost  unheard  of. 

3  The  number  of  colored  members  of  the  Southern  Church  in  1846  was 
124,961. 

4  Compare  the  latter  part  of  Chapter  II. 


LARGE  NUMBER  OE  CONVERTS. 


119 


In  i860,  sixteen  years  after  the  division,  the  Southern 
Church  had  upon  her  rolls  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  these  imported  heathen  people.  The  official  returns 
for  that  year  give  207,776  members,  with  180,000  negro 
children  under  regular  catechetical  instruction.  Says  that 
calm  and  careful  historian  of  Methodism,  Bishop  McTyeire : 
"  The  church-membership  of  all  the  missionary  societies 
and  stations,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  did  not  equal  the  col- 
ored membership  of  Methodism  in  the  Southern  States."1 
Said  another  bishop :  "  The  Southern  Church  counted 
more  converts  among  these  descendants  of  Ham  than  the 
united  efforts  of  Christendom  had  gathered  upon  all  the 
mission-fields  of  the  heathen  world."2  If  any  man  will 
furnish  reliable  facts  and  figures  to  contradict  or  correct 
this  statement  of  two  of  the  bishops  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South,  he  shall  have  our  prompt  acknowledgment  of  the 
mistake,  and  our  thanks  for  his  kindness.  Whether  that  be 
done  or  not,  who  is  there  so  destitute  of  magnanimity,  or 
even  of  common  fairness  and  candor,  as  to  refuse  to  recog- 
nize and  acknowledge  this  great  service  of  the  Southern 
Methodist  Church  to  the  negro  race,  to  the  country,  and 
to  Christendom? 

In  addition  to  their  missions  to  the  slaves,  the  Southern 
Church  enterprised  a  mission  to  China  at  the  first  General 
Conference,  in  1846,  and  organized  that  mission  in  1848. 
Ten  years  later,  when  their  China  mission  had  gotten  into 
successful  operation,  the  General  Conference  of  1858  took 
measures  for  founding  missions  in  Africa  and  Central 
America.  But  the  war  prevented  the  execution  of  their 
plans.3  These  facts  together  will  explain  how  it  was  that 
no  other  foreign  missions  were  undertaken  until  after  the 
war,  and  will  at  the  same  time  account  for  the  fact  that 

1  McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  387. 

2  "  Life  of  Bishop  George  F.  Pierce,"  p.  469. 

3  See  page  68. 


120 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xii. 


the  present  missionary  operations  of  the  Southern  Church 
are  not  yet  so  extensive  as  those  of  other  churches  in 
different  circumstances. 

The  M.  E.  Church,  South,  has  one  General  Board  of 
Missions.  This  board  has  charge  of  the  four  missions  in 
foreign  lands,  as  well  as  the  Indian  and  German  missions 
in  the  home-land,  and  all  other  missions  not  provided  for 
by  the  Annual  Conferences.  In  addition  to  this  General 
Board,  each  Annual  Conference  has  a  Conference  Board, 
which  has  entire  control  of  the  missions  within  its  borders 
and  under  its  care,  as  well  as  of  the  money  raised  for  their 
support.  A  collection  is  annually  taken  for  the  General 
Board  in  every  congregation,  and  a  separate  collection 
for  the  use  of  the  Annual  Conference  Board.  The  Gen- 
eral Board  employs  three  secretaries,  who  at  present  are 
I.  G.  John,  D.D.,  H.  C.  Morrison,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Walter  R. 
Lambuth,  M.D.,  D.D.  The  church  has  missions  in  China, 
Japan,  Mexico,  and  Brazil,  as  well  as  among  the  Indians 
and  Germans  of  this  country,  and  in  many  of  the  Western 
States  and  Territories. 

2.  The  China  Mission. 

The  mission  to  China  was  authorized  by  the  first  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  church,  in  1846.  Two  years  after- 
ward, on  April  24,  1848,  the  Rev.  Charles  Taylor,  M.D., 
and  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Jenkins  stood  with  their  wives  on 
the  deck  of  the  little  ship  "  Cleone  "  in  Boston  Harbor. 
A  little  group  of  Boston  Methodists  joined  them  in  singing 
the  Missionary  Hymn  and  in  prayer,  and  they  sailed  away 
over  unknown  seas  to  an  unknown  world.  The  cabin  of 
the  "  Cleone  "  was  ten  by  fourteen  feet,  and  seven  feet  in 
height.  The  state-rooms  were  six  by  four.  In  such  a 
vessel  they  sailed  a  voyage  of  four  months,  and  anchored, 


PIONEER  WORK  IN  CHINA. 


12  1 


August  1 2th,  in  the  harbor  of  Hong  Kong.  Afterward 
they  proceeded  to  Shanghai,  where  the  mission  was  to  be 
established.  Here  they  purchased  a  lot,  built  a  temporary 
dwelling,  and  went  to  work.  The  next  year  they  pur- 
chased another  lot  and  built  a  chapel,  in  which  they  held 
their  first  service  in  January,  1850.  They  established  two 
day-schools,  gathered  thirty  scholars,  and  mingled  religious 
services  with  the  daily  exercises.  In  1851  their  Chinese 
teacher  and  his  wife  renounced  Buddhism  and  became 
Christians.  This  man,  Liew,  soon  became  a  preacher  and 
an  evangelist,  and  proclaimed  the  gospel  to  hundreds  of 
his  fellow-countrymen.  "  His  ministry  was  greatly  blessed. 
He  died  in  1866,  mourned  by  missionaries  and  native 
Christians  as  a  great  loss  to  the  cause  of  Christianity." 

In  1852  Rev.  W.  G.  E.  Cunnyngham,  D.D.,  and  his 
wife  joined  the  missionary  force  in  China,  and  became 
faithful  and  efficient  workers  in  that  difficult  field.  These 
all  remained  at  their  post  and  continued  their  work  amid 
the  trials  and  horrors  of  the  Taiping  rebellion  in  1853. 
Shanghai  was  crowded  with  soldiers,  and  amid  the  devas- 
tations committed  by  them  the  two  residences  of  the 
missionaries  and  their  chapel  were  burned.  In  1854 
Rev.  Dr.  D.  C.  Kelley,  Rev.  J.  W.  Lambuth,  and  Rev.  J.  L. 
Belton,  with  their  wives,  arrived  in  China  to  reinforce  the 
mission.  In  December,  1859,  Rev.  Young  J.  Allen  and 
Rev.  M.  L.  Wood  sailed  from  New  York  for  Shanghai. 

But  while  the  mission  was  thus  reinforced  with  new 
arrivals,  it  was  weakened  by  the  return  of  some  of  the 
earlier  missionaries,  whose  health  was  broken  by  the  rigor 
of  the  climate  and  the  exactions  of  the  work.  Mrs.  Jenkins 
died  on  her  homeward  voyage,  and  was  buried  at  sea. 
Mr.  Belton  arrived  in  New  York  in  time  to  die  on  the  soil 
of  his  native  land.  Dr.  Kelley  (in  1855)  and  Dr.  Cun- 
nyngham (in  1 861)  were  compelled  to  return  on  account 


122  THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  xii. 


of  the  failing  health  of  themselves  or  their  families.  None 
were  now  left  but  Lambuth  and  Allen  and  Wood.  In 
1 86 1  Dr.  Lambuth  returned  to  the  United  States;  and 
from  1 86 1  to  1864  Allen  and  Wood  were  cut  off  from 
communication  with  the  home  church  and  reduced  to 
great  straits.  But  they  continued  at  their  posts  and  their 
work  during  those  years  of  silence  and  suspense,  support- 
ing themselves,  in  part,  by  doing  literary  work  for  the 
Chinese  Government.  After  the  war  between  the  States, 
the  church,  impoverished  as  it  was,  entered  anew  upon  its 
mission  work,  and  other  missionaries  were  sent  out.  Dr. 
Lambuth  returned  to  the  field  in  1864  and  resumed  his 
work.  Mr.  Wood  returned  in  1866.  In  1875  Rev-  A-  P« 
Parker  joined  the  mission.  In  1876  Bishop  Marvin,  accom- 
panied by  Rev.  E.  R.  Hendrix,  visited  the  mission,  and 
besides  leaving  great  encouragement  and  blessing  behind 
for  the  lonely  and  weary  workers  and  the  converted  na- 
tives, he  completed  and  compacted  the  organization  of  the 
mission,  ordaining  four  native  preachers  as  deacons  and 
two  as  elders. 

After  this  the  following  missionaries  were  sent  to  the 
work  in  China:  Rev.  W.  R.  Lambuth,  M.D.,  in  1877; 
C.  F.  Reid  and  W.  W.  Royall  in  1880;  Geo.  R.  Loehr  in 
1 881;  D.  L.  Anderson,  O.  G.  Mingledorf,  and  W.  H. 
Park,  M.D.,  in  1883;  W.  W.  Bonnell  and  Rev.  O.  A. 
Dukes,  M.D.,in  1885;  W.  B.  Burke  in  1887;  W.  B.  Hill 
and  J.  L.  Hendry  in  1888;  H.  L.  Gray  in  1889;  B.  D. 
Lucas,  O.  E.  Brown,  T.  A.  Hearn,  L.  Leitch,  and  R.  M. 
Campbell,  M.D.,  in  1890.  This  list  does  not  include  the 
missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Board. 

In  1886,  by  order  of  the  General  Conference,- Bishop 
Wilson  organized  the  China  Mission  Conference. 

The  following  are  the  statistics  for  1893:  Number  of 
missionaries:  male,  16;  wives,  10.    Native  preachers :  or- 


THREE  MISSIONS  IN  MEXICO. 


123 


dained,  4;  unordained,  6.  Sunday-schools,  23;  scholars, 
1 1 64;  day-schools,  16;  pupils,  1572.  Communicants  and 
probationers,  736.  Property:  churches,  9;  value,  $22,- 
816;  parsonages,  14.  Total  value  of  church  and  school 
property,  $137,311.  Appropriation  of  Board  for  1893, 
$37)383-    Total  appropriations,  $568,068. 

Our  mission  occupies  seven  walled  cities.  The  mission- 
aries publish  two  periodicals,  that  reach  the  thoughtful 
men  of  the  eighteen  provinces.  We  have  two  boarding- 
schools  for  young  men,  one  of  which  is  the  Anglo-Chinese 
College  at  Shanghai.  We  have  a  fully  equipped  hospital 
at  Suchow  in  charge  of  two  surgeons,  aided  by  several 
assistants.  The  number  of  patients  treated  in  1893  was 
12,236. 

3.  The  Missions  in  Mexico. 

Early  in  1873  Bishop  Keener  visited  the  City  of  Mexico 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Mexican  Mission.  He 
succeeded  in  purchasing  a  lot  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  near 
the  College  of  Mines.  He  appointed  to  the  work  a  native 
Mexican,  Alejo  Hernandez,  who  had  been  a  soldier,  a 
skeptic,  and  a  prisoner,  but  who,  through  reading  a  book 
against  Romanism,  was  led  to  read  the  Bible.  This  awak- 
ened him  to  a  sense  of  his  condition  and  his  peril.  He 
visited  a  Protestant  Church  in  Brownsville,  Texas,  where 
he  "  felt  his  heart  strangely  warmed,  and  went  away  weep- 
ing for  joy."  He  had  then,  under  appointment  of  Bishop 
Marvin,  served  two  years  on  trial  in  the  Mexican  work  of 
the  West  Texas  Conference  before  his  appointment  to 
the  City  of  Mexico.  In  1873  he  was  joined  by  Rev.  J.  T. 
Daves,  of  the  Louisiana  Conference.  The  first  society  was 
organized  in  the  City  of  Mexico  in  1875,  with  eighty-three 
members,  and  the  work  continued. 

In  1878  Rev.  W.  M.  Patterson,  of  the  Memphis  Confer- 


124 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  XII. 


ence,  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  mission.  He 
began  at  once  to  plan  wisely  and  broadly  in  every  way 
for  the  advance  of  the  work.  Buildings  were  procured  in 
a  number  of  the  principal  towns,  a  printing-press  was 
purchased  and  put  in  operation,  and  at  the  end  of  one 
year  he  reported  268  members,  12  native  preachers,  and 
12  teachers.  From  this  impetus  the  work  steadily  grew 
on  through  the  following  years,  until  at  present  there  are 
three  regular  conferences :  the  Central  Mexico  Mission 
Conference,  the  Mexican  Border  Mission  Conference,  and 
the  Northwest  Mexican  Mission  Conference. 

The  following  missionaries  are  at  present  engaged  in 
the  Mexican  work :  A.  H.  Sutherland,  J.  W.  Grimes,  D.  F. 
Watkins,  Geo.  B.  Winton,  J.  M.  Weems,  J.  D.  Scoggins, 
D.  W.  Carter,  S.  G.  Kilgore,  J.  F.  Corbin,  R.  C.  Elliott, 
W.  D.  King,  J.  C.  Cavener,  J.  R.  Mood. 

The  statistics  for  1892  are  as  follows:  Missionaries,  13; 
wives,  10;  native  preachers,  80;  members,  4863;  Sun- 
day-schools, 153;  scholars,  3642;  day-schools,  14;  pupils, 
1 192;  churches,  52;  value,  $92,029;  parsonages,  19. 
Total  value  of  property,  $167,512.  Appropriations  for 
1893,  $73>Q94-  Total  appropriations  to  the  Mexican 
work,  $1,125,362. 

The  three  conferences  support  a  weekly  paper,  "  El 
Evangelista  Mexicano." 

4.  The  Brazil  Mission. 

The  Rev.  J.  E.  Newman,  of  the  Alabama  Conference, 
removed  to  Brazil  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1861-65. 
He  preached  and  worked,  as  he  was  able,  among  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  of  the  province  of  San  Paulo.  Later 
he  organized  a  small  society  there.  In  1875  he  was  rec- 
ognized as  a  missionary  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  and 


MISSION  TO  JAPAN. 


125 


appointed  superintendent  of  the  work  which  the  church 
then  undertook  in  Brazil.  In  the  same  year  Rev.  J.  J. 
Ransom,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  was  appointed  to 
labor  in  that  empire,  and  was  put  in  charge  of  the  work  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro.  In  the  years  following  others  were  sent 
out  by  the  Board:  J.  L.  Kennedy,  J.  W.  Tarbaux,  H.  C. 
Tucker,  J.  W.  Wolling,  E.  A.  Tilly,  Michael  Dickie,  John  M. 
Lauder,  R.  C.  Dickson,  J.  L.  Bruce,  and  C.  B.  McFarland. 
The  mission  was  organized  into  an  Annual  Conference  by 
Bishop  Granbery  in  1887. 

The  statistics  for  1893  are  as  follows:  Missionaries,  10; 
wives,  9;  native  preachers,  16;  native  local  preachers,  5  ; 
members,  825  ;  Sunday-schools,  11  ;  scholars,  441  ;  boys' 
day-schools,  5  ;  pupils,  438. 

There  is  a  beautiful  stone  church  in  Rio,  a  comely  brick 
church  in  Juiz  de  Fora,  a  good  brick  church  in  Piracicaba, 
and  other  chapels  to  the  amount  of  about  $75,000  in  value. 
Total  value  of  church  property,  $111,626.  Contributed 
(1893)  by  the  members,  $7022.  Appropriated  by  the 
Board  for  1893,  $31,440.  Total  appropriations,  $326,821! 
They  have  a  weekly  paper,  their  conference  organ,  the 
"  Expositor  Christao,"  with  1650  subscribers. 

5.  The  Mission  to  Japan. 

The  mission  to  Japan  is  the  youngest  of  the  missions. 
The  first  appropriation  was  made  in  1885.  In  1886  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  W.  Lambuth,  who  had  previously  made  a  reconnois- 
sance  of  the  island,  was  transferred  from  China  to  take 
charge  in  Japan.  He  was  accompanied  by  Rev.  W.  R. 
Lambuth,  M.D.,  his  son,  and  Rev.  O.  A.  Dukes,  M.D.  In 
September  of  that  year  the  first  meeting  of  the  Japan  Mis- 
sion was  held  at  Kobe.  Bishop  Wilson,  accompanied  by 
Rev.  Collins  Denny,  was  present.    In  1887  the  mission  re- 


126 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  xii. 


ported  6  foreign  members,  I  Chinese,  and  i  Japanese.  In 
the  beginning  of  1888  the  missionaries  had  received  into 
the  church  by  baptism  64  adults,  and  had  66  probationers. 
The  General  Board  has,  at  present,  18  missionaries  in  Japan. 
Rev.  W.  R.  Lambuth,  M.D.,  at  home  on  leave;  Rev. 
W.  E.  Towson,  Osaka,  Japan;  S.  H.  Wainright,  M.D.,  at 
home  on  leave;  Rev.  J.  C.  C.  Newton,  Kwansei  Gakuin, 
Kobe,  Japan ;  Rev.  N.  W.  Utley,  Osaka,  Japan ;  Rev.  T. 
W.  B.  Demaree,  Kwansei  Gakuin,  Kobe,  Japan;  Rev.  B. 
W.  Waters,  Hiroshima,  Japan  ;  Rev.  C.  B.  Moseley,  Mat- 
suyama,  Japan;  Rev.  W.  A.  Wilson,  Oita,  Japan;  Rev. 
Simeon  Shaw,  Yamaguchi,  Japan ;  Rev.  H.  G.  Hawkins, 
Matsuyama,  Japan ;  Rev.  W.  A.  Davis,  Uwajima  post- 
office,  Japan ;  Rev.  J.  T.  Meyers,  Tadotsu  post-office, 
Kobe,  Japan ;  Rev.  C.  A.  Tague,  Iwakuni  post-office, 
Hiroshima,  Japan ;  Rev.  S.  E.  Hager,  Osaka,  Japan ; 
W.  P.  Turner,  Kobe,  Japan ;  C.  M.  Bradbury,  Kobe,  Japan  ; 
Rev.  B.  S.  Rayner. 

The  statistics  for  1893  are:  Missionaries,  18;  wives,  9. 
Native  preachers :  traveling,  6 ;  local  preachers,  6 ;  ex- 
horters,  14.  Members,  507  ;  increase  during  the  year,  57  ; 
probationers,  87;  Sunday-schools,  42;  scholars,  1297; 
theological  schools,  1  ;  theological  students,  15  ;  boys'  day- 
schools,  13  ;  pupils,  385  ;  churches,  5  ;  chapels,  26;  parson- 
ages, 4.  Total  value  of  property,  $37,366;  collections, 
$3699.90.  In  1892  Dr.  J.  W.  Lambuth  died  in  Japan. 
His  dying  message  to  the  Church  was,  "  I  die  at  my  post. 
Send  more  men." 

6.  Missions  to  the  Indians. 

The  Indian  Mission  Conference  is  a  mixed  conference, 
having  2000  white  members  and  10,759  Indian  mem- 
bers, some  pure  bloods,  some  mixed  bloods.1    It  extends 

1  Dr.  I.  G.  John,  Missionary  Secretary,  is  my  authority  for  these  figures. 


WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 


127 


over  Indian  and  Oklahoma  Territories.  There  were  1329 
additions  to  the  church  during  the  year  1892-93.  The 
conference  has  160  churches,  valued  at  $74,265,  and  43 
parsonages,  valued  at  $21,194.  The  Harrell  Institute, 
under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Theodore  F.  Brewer,  has 
a  faculty  of  9  teachers  and  250  students.  Besides  this, 
there  are  four  other  schools,  with  13  teachers  and  327 
pupils.  The  conference  contributed  last  year  for  foreign 
missions,  $2150.05;  for  domestic  missions,  $972;  for 
church  extension,  $492.35.  Appropriations,  1892-93, 
$21,340. 

"  We  have  confessedly  a  larger  field  and  greater  success 
among  the  Indians  than  any  other  church  in  the  country," 
says  Dr.  John,  Missionary  Secretary. 

7.  German  Missions. 

The  German  Mission  Conference  embraces  all  the  Ger- 
man churches  in  the  State  of  Texas.  It  was  organized  in 
1874  at  Houston.  For  1892  it  reports  19  missionaries 
and  1073  members.  It  has  a  college  at  Fredericksburg, 
Texas. 

The  amount  collected  by  the  General  Board  for  the 
foreign  missions  of  the  church  during  the  year  ending 
April  1,  1893,  was  $346,572.39.  "The  Methodist  Review 
of  Missions,"  a  monthly  magazine  of  sixty-four  pages,  edited 
by  Dr.  John  and  Dr.  Lambuth  and  published  by  the  General 
Board,  is  a  bright,  newsy,  attractive,  and  earnest  advocate 
of  the  great  cause,  and  will  compare  favorably  with  the 
missionary  magazines  of  other  churches.  Dr.  John  has 
just  written  and  published  a  volume  entitled  "  A  Hand- 
book of  Methodist  Missions  "  (pp.  604),  which  is  an  exceed- 
ingly valuable  manual. 


128 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xn. 


8.   Woman ' s  Work  in  the  Church.1 

In  April,  1874,  largely  through  the  zeal  and  efforts  of 
Mrs.  M.  L.  Kelley,  some  of  the  Methodist  women  of  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  formed  themselves  into  an  organization  known 
as  a  "Bible  Mission,"  with  two  distinct  objects:  one  to 
furnish  aid  and  Bible  instruction  to  the  poor  and  destitute 
of  the  city,  the  other  to  collect  and  contribute  pecuniary 
aid  to  foreign  missionary  fields.  In  three  years  this  soci- 
ety secured  a  home  for  the  poor  of  the  city,  founded  the 
"  Mission  Home"  for  fallen  women,  which  has  grown  into 
a  large  and  permanent  institution,  and  contributed  $3000 
for  Christian  work  among  the  women  of  China.  To  this 
work  Mrs.  Kelley  devoted  her  every  treasure,  her  prayers, 
her  labor,  her  child,  and  her  grandchild,  both  of  whom  spent 
some  time  in  China.  Similar  societies  were  about  the 
same  time  or  soon  afterward  organized  at  Warren,  Ark., 
in  the  Broad  Street  Church  in  Richmond,  Va.,  at  Ma- 
con, Ga.,  Glasgow,  Mo.,  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  Franklin,  N.  C. 
For  some  years  before  this  a  society  of  ladies  in  New 
Orleans  had  been  working  for  the  Mexican  Mission.  In 
1878  there  were  more  than  twenty  Woman's  Missionary 
Societies  in  the  Southern  Methodist  Church.  These  were 
the  same  year  incorporated  into  one,  and  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  was  organized  under  a  constitution  provided  by 
the  General  Conference  of  that  year,  with  Mrs.  Juliana 
Hayes,  of  Baltimore,  as  first  president,  and  Mrs.  D.  H. 
McGavock,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  as  corresponding  secre- 
tary. Miss  Lochie  Rankin,  of  Tennessee,  was  the  first 
representative  of  the  newly  formed  society.  She  was  sent 
to  take  charge  of  a  school  in  Shanghai.  This  school  was 
already  in  existence  under  the  General  Board,  with  an 

1  See  chapter  by  Mrs.  Black  in  "  Handbook  of  Methodist  Missions." 


WOMAN'S  PARSONAGE  AND  HOME  MISSION  SOCIETY.  129 

attendance  of  29  pupils  and  6  native  Bible  women.  The 
first  meeting  of  the  General  Executive  Board  of  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  held  in  Louisville,  Ky., 
in  May,  1879.  Fifteen  conference  societies  had  been 
organized,  with  219  auxiliaries,  numbering  5890  mem- 
bers. The  receipts  for  that  first  year  were  over  $4000. 
At  the  next  annual  meeting,  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  dele- 
gates from  twenty-two  conference  societies  were  pres- 
ent, representing  465  auxiliaries  and  12,273  members. 
The  collections  for  the  second  year  were  $13,775.  A 
second  missionary  had  been  sent  out  in  1879,  Miss  Dora 
Rankin.  She  joined  her  sister  the  same  year,  and  the  two 
were  together  put  in  charge  of  a  new  school  established  at 
Nantziang,  while  the  school  at  Shanghai  was  put  in  charge 
of  Mrs.  Lambuth.  A  generous  lady  of  Baltimore  pur- 
chased and  donated  a  home  for  the  missionaries  in  Nantzi- 
ang— the  "  Louise  Home,"  The  need  of  an  official  organ 
was  felt,  and  the  "  Woman's  Missionary  Advocate  "  was 
established  at  Nashville,  with  Mrs.  F.  A.  Butler  as  editor. 

From  these  beginnings  the  work  has  grown  until  now 
the  society  has  2209  auxiliaries  with  76,396  members, 
and  there  are  flourishing  missions  and  mission  schools  and 
hospitals  in  China,  in  South  America,  and  in  Mexico.  In 
the  field  in  China  there  are  9  missionaries  of  the  Woman's 
Board,  52  native  teachers,  5  Bible  women,  4  boarding- 
schools,  33  day-schools,  758  pupils,  and  1  hospital  and 
dispensary.  The  points  occupied  are  Shanghai,  Nantziang, 
Kading,  and  Suchow. 

The  work  of  the  Woman's  Board  in  Mexico  extends  to 
a  greater  number  of  points.  In  the  Laredo  District  there 
are  5  missionaries,  11  teachers,  4  native  teachers,  531 
pupils.  At  Saltillo  there  are  3  missionaries,  5  teachers, 
181  pupils.  In  Durango,  1  missionary,  3  teachers,  80 
pupils.     In  Chihuahua,  3  missionaries,  3  teachers,  109 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xii. 


pupils.  In  the  San  Luis  Potosi,  i  missionary,  7  teachers, 
158  pupils.  In  the  Mexican  work  altogether  there  are 
13  missionaries,  32  teachers,  ten  of  whom  are  natives,  and 
1 1  7 1  pupils. 

In  the  Brazilian  work  there  are  9  missionaries,  14  teach- 
ers, four  of  whom  are  native,  3  schools,  and  240  pupils. 
The  points  occupied  are  Piracicaba,  in  the  province  of  Sao 
Paulo,  and  Rio  and  Juiz  de  Fora,  in  the  province  of  Rio. 

The  Woman's  Board  has  and  supports  a  school  at 
Anadarko,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  which  has  4  teachers 
and  54  pupils. 

In  1 890  they  had  property  in  China  worth  $60,000 ; 
in  Mexico,  $66,300;  in  Brazil,  $45,000;  in  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, $5000;  total,  $176,300.  The  collections  of  the 
Woman's  Society  for  1892-93  amounted  to  $99, 289. 65. 1 

In  addition  to  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
there  is  another  and  a  distinct  society  of  women  called  the 
"  Parsonage  and  Home  Mission  Society."  This  was 
first  organized  as  the  "  Woman's  Department  of  Church 
Extension,"  but  was  afterward  enlarged  so  as  to  take  in 
any  work  coming  under  the  head  of  home  missions.  Its 
primary  object  was  to  collect  funds  for  the  building  of 
parsonages  in  needy  places,  and  corresponded  in  this  re- 
spect to  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Church  Extension  in 
building  churches  in  needy  places.  Miss  Lucinda  B. 
Helm,  of  Kentucky,  to  whose  fertile  brain  the  conception 
of  the  plan  is  due,  was  the  first  secretary  and  general 
manager,  and  under  her  zealous  and  successful  leadership 
the  society  has  grown  to  be  an  invaluable  adjunct  to  the 
department  of  church  extension. 

Since  its  organization,  in  1886,  the  general  society  and 
its  auxiliaries  have  raised  for  all  purposes  $114,000. 
They  have  built  or  helped  to  build  550  parsonages,  and 

1  "  Report  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  for  1893,"  p.  63. 


SCARRJTT  BIBLE  AND  TRAINING  SCHOOL.       I  3  I 

many  of  these  have  been  the  means  of  establishing  our 
church  where  otherwise  it  would  have  had  no  existence, 
or  at  best  a  feeble  existence.1  The  society  devotes  itself 
also  to  the  encouragement  and  development  of  local  home 
mission  work,  wherever  its  members  may  be  situated. 
The  local  auxiliary  in  Nashville,  for  example,  employs 
two  excellent  and  intelligent  ladies,  who  have  received 
special  training,  in  Christian  work  among  the  lower  classes. 
The  present  general  secretary  is  Mrs.  Ruth  Scarritt,  Kan- 
sas City,  Mo. 

For  the  special  training  of  women  who  are  preparing 
themselves  for  mission  work,  either  in  the  home  or  foreign 
field,  a  school  has  in  the  last  few  years  been  established 
by  the  women  of  the  church.  It  is  located  in  Kansas 
City,  Mo.  The  beautiful  and  commanding  site  upon 
which  it  is  located  and  $25,000  toward  the  building  were 
donated  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Scarritt.  The  women 
of  the  church  subsequently  raised  $25,000,  and  a  build- 
ing has  been  erected  which  is  a  model  of  convenience 
and  of  architectural  beauty.  It  is  appropriately  named 
the  "  Scarritt  Bible  and  Training  School."  The  principal 
is  Miss  M.  L.  Gibson.  It  has  the  following  departments : 
Bible  Study,  Church  History,  Moral  Philosophy  and  Chris- 
tian Evidences,  Nurse  Training,  Industrial,  City  Mission 
Work,  Physical  Culture.  It  has  also  a  hospital  depart- 
ment and  a  medical  faculty.  It  corresponds,  in  part,  to 
schools  for  deaconesses  in  other  churches.  It  is  in  its 
second  year  of  operation,  and  is  doubtless  destined  to  a 
career  of  enlarging  beneficence  and  blessing  in  many  ways 
and  for  all  time  to  come. 

1  See  "  Report  of  Woman's  Parsonage  and  Home  Mission  Society,"  p.  34. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


GENERAL  VIEW  AND  CONCLUSION. 

We  have  now  outlined  the  history  of  the  origin  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  as  a  distinct  eccle- 
siastical body ;  its  development,  growth,  and  work  during 
the  years  of  its  early  prosperity,  from  1846  to  i860;  its 
period  of  depletion,  impoverishment,  and  depression  during 
and  following  the  war,  from  1861  to  1866;  its  resuscita- 
tion and  phenomenal  growth  from  1866  to  1890.  It  re- 
mains to  give  a  brief  outline  of  its  present  condition,  and 
to  conclude. 

While  statistics  are  not  an  absolutely  correct  and  in- 
fallible indication  of  the  actual  state  and  the  real  forces  of 
a  church,  yet,  with  some  general  knowledge  besides,  they 
give  a  fairly  proximate  idea,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
form  an  estimate  without  them.  It  has  been  said  that 
figures  will  not  lie.  But  it  has  also  been  said  that  lies 
will  figure.  In  one  respect  the  statistics  of  a  church  in- 
volve an  over-statement  of  its  forces  and  resources,  inas- 
much as  it  is  certain  that  not  all  those  who  are  counted 
and  who  help  to  swell  the  numbers  are  actual  Christians 
or  available  and  effective  helpers  in  its  work.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  conditions,  influences,  and  elements 
of  power  that  cannot  be  weighed  and  measured,  that  can- 
not be  reduced  to  arithmetical  calculation  and  tabulation. 
So  that,  on  the  whole,  statistics  will  at  least  afford  as  cor- 
rect an  estimate  of  a  church's  achievements  and  resources 
as  can  be  put  in  a  comprehensive  and  summary  statement. 

132 


THE  LATEST  STATISTICS. 


133 


They  furnish  also  a  comparative  estimate  of  the  work  of 
the  several  churches.  The  old  rule,  with  some  grains  of 
allowance,  applies  here,  that  it  is  as  fair  for  one  as  it  is  for 
the  other. 

We  are  able  to  give  the  statistics  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the  year  1891-92,  the  re- 
turns for  1892-93  not  being  yet  made  out. 

Traveling  Local  White  Colored  Indian  Total 

preachers.        preachers.       members.        members.       members.  membership. 

5,368  6,481         1,282,750         357  10,759!  1,305^15 

The  year  1893  was  one  °f  general  revival  and  large  in- 
gathering. It  is  perfectly  certain  that  the  total  will  now 
considerably  exceed  1,350,000.  The  Southern  Methodists 
outnumber  any  other  single  Protestant  church  in  the 
country  except  the  Baptists,  who  (without  counting  the 
colored  churches)  reckon,  all  told,  North  and  South,  about 
2,200,000,  and  the  Northern  Methodists,  who  reported 
for  1892,  probationers,  colored  members  and  all,  2,473, 1*59. 2 

Further  statistics  for  1891-92: 

Sunday-  Teach-  Schol-  rn...~.i—  v~i„~  Parson-  v„i.,„  Total 
schools.      ers.  ars.     Churches-       Value.         ages         Value.  ya,ue 

13,426   95,204  754,223  12,856  $20,287,112  3,015  $3,693,436  $23,980,546 

Missionary  statistics  for  1892-93: 

Foreign  Domestic  Woman's  Total  for  Church 

Missions.  Missions.  Board.  Missions.  Extension. 

$346,572,393    $134,690.74     $99,289,654      $580,552.78  $80,685,855 

At  least  a  third  of  the  Church  Extension  collections  was 
used  on  mission  fields.  This  will  make  over  $600,000 
raised  for  mission  work  in  1892-93. 

The    conference    collections    for    the  superannuated 

1  See  p.  126  and  note. 

2  See  "  Methodist  Year-Book"  for  1893,  p.  49. 

3  "  Report  of  Board  of  Missions  for  1893,"  p.  208. 

4  "  Report  of  Woman's  Missionary  Society,"'  1893,  p.  63. 

5  "  Church  Extension  Bulletin,"  July,  1893,  p.  2. 


134 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  fin. 


preachers  and    the  widows    and  orphans  of  deceased 
preachers  for  1891-92  amounted  to  $148,577.46. 
Educational  statistics  for  1891-92  : 

Schools  and        t     v  r>    -i  Value  of  ^  , 

Colleges.  Teachers.  Pupils.  property.  Endowment 

179  897  16,620  $4,485,042  $1,538,000 

The  history  of  the  church  will  vindicate  the  claim  that 
according  to  her  ability  she  has  been  the  patron  of  edu- 
cation. Retaining  in  1845  possession  of  the  institutions 
which  were  located  in  her  territory,  she  at  once  inaugu- 
rated and  between  the  years  1846  and  i860  carried  forward 
an  educational  movement  of  great  vigor  and  wide  extent. 
During  that  period  more  than  thirty  schools  of  collegiate 
grade  sprang  into  existence,  some  with  liberal  endow- 
ments, while  the  older  ones  were  enlarged  or  more  ade- 
quately endowed.  The  Journal  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1858  gives  the  names  and  statistics  of  106  schools 
and  colleges  owned  or  controlled  by  the  church.1  During 
the  war  all  or  nearly  all  these  were  closed ;  many  of  them 
were  destroyed.  After  the  devastations  of  the  war,  and 
under  the  embarrassments  of  her  impoverished  condition, 
the  church  addressed  herself  to  the  task  of  restoring'  her 
educational  institutions.  Considering  the  inadequacy  of 
her  resources,  her  lack  of  means,  and  the  difficulties  to  be 
overcome,  her  success  has  not  been  small.  The  results  of 
her  earnest  efforts  have  received  generous  recognition  upon 
the  part  of  observant  men  of  other  churches  and  sections 
and  countries.  Bishop  Merrill,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  says:  '?  The  zeal  of  our  Southern  brethren  in  re- 
building their  church  institutions  since  the  desolations  of 
the  war  has  been  phenomenal.  The  history  of  Method- 
ism scarcely  affords  a  parallel  to  the  successes  they  have 
achieved."2    Dr.  Waller,  the  fraternal  delegate  of  the  Brit- 

1  "Journal  of  General  Conference  of  1858,"  pp.  523-532. 

2  "  Organic  Union  of  American  Methodism,"  p.  109. 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS.  135 


ish  Wesleyan  Conference  to  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Southern  Church  in  1890,  said  :  "  The  way  in  which  South- 
ern Methodism  rose  from  the  ashes  after  the  war  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  facts  in  modern  church  history." 

Her  leading  institution  is  the  Vanderbilt  University,  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  representing  the  munificent  gifts  of  father, 
son,  and  grandson  of  the  great  family  of  that  name  in  the 
Knickerbocker  State.  After  this  comes  Randolph- Macon 
College,  with  its  two  affiliated  fitting-schools  and  Woman's 
College,  in  Virginia ;  Emory  College,  in  Georgia ;  Emory 
and  Henry,  in  Western  Virginia;  Wofford,  with  its  two 
■fitting- schools,  in  South  Carolina;  Trinity,  in  North  Caro- 
lina; Central,  in  Missouri;  Southern,  in  Alabama;  South- 
western, in  Texas ;  Wesleyan,  in  Kentucky ;  Millsaps,  in 
Mississippi;  Centenary,  in  Louisiana;  Hendrix,  in  Arkan- 
sas ;  Pacific,  in  California.  These  schools  have  been  and 
are  more  or  less  crippled  for  lack  of  ample  endowments. 
Most  of  them  have  some  endowment,  and  are  making 
most  vigorous  and  not  altogether  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
increase  it. 

Vanderbilt  University  has  property  approximating  a 
million  dollars  in  value  and  a  productive  endowment  of 
$900,000.  While  this  is  a  good  beginning,  the  Univer- 
sity is  in  great  need  of  at  least  a  million  more. 

The  establishment  of  this  institution  in  the  South  has 
given  a  great  impulse  to  the  cause  of  education  in  general, 
whose  momentum  increases  with  the  advancing  years.  It 
created  the  necessity  for  a  class  of  training-schools  which 
are  springing  up  in  all  parts  of  the  connection  to  meet  the 
increasing  demand.  On  the  other  hand,  the  University  is 
furnishing  trained  teachers  for  these  training-schools,  as 
well  as  for  chairs  in  many  of  the  colleges,  both  in  the 
church  and  out  of  it ;  who  in  their  turn  are  preparing  stu- 
dents for  the  University  and  directing  them  with  enthusi- 
asm to  the  halls  of  their  own  honored  alma  mater. 


136 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xiii. 


Students  from  the  training-schools  enter  the  University 
to  take  the  regular  course :  students  from  the  colleges 
enter  the  higher  classes  of  the  undergraduate  course,  or 
take  post-graduate  or  professional  courses.  The  Uni- 
versity, on  the  one  hand,  and  the  colleges  and  training- 
schools,  on  the  other,  are  interdependent,  correlative,  and 
complementary.  The  University  in  ever-increasing  meas- 
ure supplies  trained  teachers  for  the  colleges  and  train- 
ing-schools, while  these  in  turn  supply  students  for  the 
University  classes,  and  there  is  endless  and  ever-increas- 
ing progression. 

This  correlation,  however,  has,  so  far,  been  only  par- 
tially realized  in  practice.  The  universal  application  of  the 
principle  would  give  us  a  complete,  effective,  and  almost 
ideal  educational  system.  This  will  involve  mutual  con- 
cessions, and  the  subordination  of  local  and  personal  to 
general  interests.  For  this  consummation  many  of  the 
leading  men  are  devoutly  wishing  and  hoping,  and  toward 
it  they  are  looking  and  working. 

We  have  four  theological  schools :  the  theological  de- 
partment of  Vanderbilt  University,  a  theological  school  at 
San  Luis  Potosi,  in  Mexico,  another  at  Kobe,  in  Japan, 
and  the  theological  department  of  Paine  Institute,  for  col- 
ored preachers. 

With  all  that  has  been  said,  our  educational  institutions, 
especially  the  Colleges  and  the  University,  are  in  great 
need  of  large  pecuniary  aid,  and  it  must  in  all  candor  be 
confessed  and  declared  that  men  of  means  in  the  South 
have  not  yet  risen  to  an  appreciation  of  the  opportunity 
that  is  set  before  them,  and  of  the  responsibility  that  is 
laid  upon  them.1 

For  twelve  years  after  its  organization  the  Methodist 

1  It  was  the  purpose  of  the  author  to  devote  a  full  chapter  to  the  history  of 
education  in  the  church,  hut  the  exigencies  of  space  absolutely  forbade  it. 


PERIODICAL  PUB LIC A  TIONS. 


137 


Episcopal  Church,  South,  had  no  publishing-house  of  its 
own,  for  causes  given  in  other  parts  of  this  history.  In 
1862  the  nascent  institution  was  taken  and  used  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war  as  a  United  States  printing- 
office.  In  1872  the  house  was  burned.  In  1878  its  lia- 
bilities exceeded  its  assets  by  $124,383,  and  it  was  de- 
clared insolvent.  On  April  1 ,  1 893,  its  total  assets  amounted 
to  $659,516.58,  with  an  insignificant  debt  of  $13,396.18. 
The  volume  of  business  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  April  1, 
1893,  amounted  to  $343,707.94,  out  of  the  profits  of 
which  $17,500  was  appropriated  for  the  benefit  of  worn- 
out  preachers  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased 
preachers.1    These  facts  and  figures  speak  for  themselves. 

"  The  Christian  Advocate,"  one  of  the  leading  weeklies 
of  the  country,  with  Dr.  E.  E.  Hoss  as  editor  and  Dr. 
E.  M.  Bounds,  assistant  editor,  has  a  circulation  of  nearly 
25,000.  "  The  Pacific  Methodist  Advocate"  (San  Fran- 
cisco), Dr.  H.  M.  DuBose,  editor,  is  the  organ  of  the 
church  in  the  West.  Both  these  are  the  property  and 
the  official  organs  of  the  church.  Besides  these  two 
there  are  twenty-seven  other  papers  published  as  organs 
of  conferences  or  by  private  enterprise.  One  of  these  is 
in  German,  one  in  Spanish,  one  in  Portuguese,  two  in 
Chinese.  The  church  publishes  a  "  Quarterly  Review," 
Dr.  W.  P.  Harrison,  editor,  which  will  compare  favorably 
with  other  church  reviews.  "  The  Methodist  Review  of 
Missions"  has  been  noticed  elsewhere.  "  The  Woman's 
Missionary  Advocate,"  edited  by  Mrs.  F.  A.  Butler,  has 
a  circulation  of  13,000,  and  richly  deserves  as  many  more. 
The  Sunday-school  publications,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  W.  G.  E. 
Cunnyngham  is  editor,  reach  up  into  the  millions. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  is  at  peace 
with  herself.    While  her  progress  has  been  singularly 

1  Report  of  Barbee  and  Smith,  Agents,  for  1892-93. 


138 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH.  [Chap.  xiii. 


beset  with  difficulties  and  discouragements  from  without, 
she  has  been  singularly  free  from  dissensions  or  disturb- 
ances within.  She  has  pursued  her  course  and  performed 
her  heaven-appointed  work  with  a  unity  and  continuity 
of  purpose  to  which  church  history  affords  few  paral- 
lels. A  more  homogeneous  ecclesiastical  community  does 
not  exist  on  the  American  continent.  Throughout  her 
entire  history  her  peace  has  never  been  disturbed  by  her- 
esy, or  by  wild  and  venturesome  speculation,  or  even  by 
serious  doctrinal  controversy.  She  has  kept  the  unity  of 
the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  :  one  body,  one  Spirit,  one 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all. 
On  this  point  Bishop  Merrill  bears  generous  testimony : 
"  Soundness  of  doctrine  is  maintained  with  reference  to 
all  that  is  vital  in  the  Christian  system.  The  Word  of 
God  is  laid  upon  the  consciences  of  the  people  with  its 
stern  requirements  and  penalties,  as  well  as  with  its 
promises  and  grace,  as  the  only  standard  of  moral  obli- 
gation." 1 

The  church  has  studiously  and  persistently  kept  her- 
self aloof  from  all  entanglements  with  or  interferences  in 
political  matters.  This  is  not  because  she  is  insensible  of 
her  position  and  relations  in  the  world,  or  indifferent  to 
these  things,  but  because  she  believes  that  the  way  to 
make  a  good  state  is  to  make  good  citizens,  and  the  way 
to  make  good  citizens  is  to  make  good  men,  and  the  way 
to  make  good  men  is  to  hold  upon  their  consciences  God's 
eternal  law  of  right  and  God's  eternal  gospel  of  grace. 
To  appeal  to  political  motives  or  to  arouse  partisan 
passions  would  seriously  if  not  effectually  hinder  this 
higher  and  holier  work.  Hence  her  doctrine  is  that  the 
function  of  the  church  and  ministry  is  to  take  care  of  the 
man  ;  and  the  citizen  and  the  state  will  take  care  of  them- 

1  "  The  Organic  Union  of  American  Methodism,"  p.  108. 


HOMOGENEITY  OF  SOUTHERN  METHODISM.  139 


selves.  She  interferes  with  no  man's  political  liberty ; 
she  neither  dictates  nor  suggests  any  man's  political 
action.  The  conviction  is  throughly  ingrained  and  univer- 
sal that  by  political  interferences  she  would  lose  her  hold 
on  men  and  lessen  her  power  for  higher  good.  Hence  her 
ministers  instinctively  abstain  even  from  political  allusions. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  church  or  her  ministers  are 
non-committal  and  silent  upon  great  moral  and  social 
questions.  The  caustic  deliverances  of  the  last  two  Gen- 
eral Conferences  on  the  question  of  prohibition,  and  the 
emphatic  action  of  the  last  one  on  the  subject  of  divorce, 
are  proofs  to  the  contrary. 

The  agitation  of  certain  questions  of  church  polity  or 
economy,  which  so  seriously  disturbs  the  peace  of  some 
other  churches,  has  not  invaded  the  Southern  Methodist 
fold.  The  tendency  to  Congregationalism,  of  which  so 
much  has  been  written  in  Methodist  journals  of  late,  if 
in  reality  it  exists  at  all,  exists  to  a  very  small  extent  in 
Southern  Methodism.  The  preachers  go  where  they  are 
sent,  even  to  the  barren  missions  of  the  remote  rural  dis- 
tricts, and  there  are  many  noble  and  touching  examples 
of  the  ancient  heroism  of  the  Methodist  itinerancy  through- 
out the  South.  If  any  preacher  has  refused  to  go  to  a 
"  hard  appointment,"  or  has  afterward  left  the  church  on 
account  of  a  "  hard  appointment,"  since  the  beginning  of 
this  writer's  ministry  (1877),  he  does  not  know  of  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  wealthy  metropolitan  congregations 
receive  and  support  the  ministers  who  are  sent  to  them, 
though  sometimes  against  their  choice  and  judgment. 
And  in  comparatively  few  instances  is  any  undue  press- 
ure brought  to  bear  upon  the  bishop  by  laymen  to  control 
appointments.  Indeed,  some  of  the  bishops  have  said  that 
the  laymen  do  not  give  expression  to  their  views  and 
wishes  as  frequently  and  as  freely  as  they  ought. 


140 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xiii. 


Upon  the  broader  and  more  fundamental  matters  of 
church  polity,  as  the  relations  of  the  different  departments 
of  church  government,  their  functions,  powers,  and  rights, 
there  is  practical  unanimity  of  view.  The  relations  and 
prerogatives  of  the  episcopal  office,  the  powers  and  limita- 
tions of  the  General  Conference,  the  rights  and  functions 
of  the  body  of  elders  constituting  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences, and  the  rights  of  individual  ministers  and  private 
members — all  these  are  articulately  defined  and  securely 
fixed  and  guarded  by  the  constitution.  These  definitions 
and  safeguards  are  clearly  understood  by  the  ministry  and 
the  laity  of  the  church,  and  are  accepted  with  a  consensus 
that  is  little  short  of  unanimity.  Witness  the  vote  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  creating  the  veto  proviso  of  the  con- 
stitution— 2024  yeas  to  9  nays.1  There  is  at  present  some 
little  breeze  of  discussion  among  the  newspapers  concern- 
ing the  criticism  of  bishops  and  their  official  acts,  which 
is  all  right  and  proper;  but  it  hardly  touches  the  consti- 
tutional aspects  of  the  subject,  and  there  is  no  real  demand 
for  any  essential  change. 

The  sphere  of  woman  in  the  work  of  the  church  has 
quietly  settled  itself,  and  to  the  entire  and  unfeigned  sat- 
isfaction of  the  women  as  well  as  the  men.  There  has 
never  been  the  slightest  agitation,  disturbance,  or  discon- 
tent in  the  adjustments  of  this  great  question  in  the  past; 
there  is  not  the  slightest  at  the  present. 

The  colored  problem  is  unknown  in  the  Southern  Meth- 
odist Church.  That  problem  solved  itself  long  ago,  and 
quietly.  The  General  Conference,  at  the  request  of  the 
60,000  colored  members,  set  them  up  as  an  independent 
church  in  18 70.  They  have  their  own  conferences,  An- 
nual and  General,  they  have  their  own  bishops,  they 
manage  their  own  affairs,  they  are  satisfied,  and  they  are 

1  See  page  90. 


FRATERNITY,  FEDERATION,  FUSION. 


141 


doing  well.  Those  who  wished  to  remain  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  did  so  without  let  or  hin- 
drance. A  few  so  preferred,  and  our  statistics  report  357 
colored  members.  But  the  Southern  Church  did  not  in 
one  sense  set  off  her  colored  members,  she  only  set  them 
up,  as  one  of  the  colored  bishops  wittily  remarked ;  and 
the  "  Mother- Church,"  as  they  affectionately  call  us,1  still 
takes  a  parental  interest  in  them  and  renders  them  sub- 
stantial help.  "  It  was  widely  thought,"  to  quote  once 
more  the  words  of  Bishop  Merrill,  "  that  when  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  organized  this  colored  church  and  ordained  its 
bishops,  the  chief  aim  was  to  get  rid  of  its  colored  mem- 
bership. But  better  things  have  come  to  pass.  The 
newly  opened  fountain  of  liberality  is  pouring  streams  of 
blessing  on  the  needy.  Both  churches  are  to  be  con- 
gratulated."2 

The  Southern  Methodist  Church  has  fraternal  relations 
with  all  Methodisms,  and  with  the  leading  evangelical 
churches  of  other  names  and  orders.  She  exchanges 
either  fraternal  messengers  or  messages  with  the  princi- 
pal Methodist  bodies,  white  and  colored,  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  and  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Confer- 
ence of  Great  Britain,  with  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Presbyterians,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  and  the  Bap- 
tists.3 As  to  federation  she  is,  perhaps,  over-conservative, 
a  trifle  provincial,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  ere  long  she 
will  be  ready  to  cooperate  in  the  way  of  federation  with 
other  Methodisms  and  other  evangelical  churches,  in  all 
prudent  and  practicable  ways.  As  to  fusion  with  other 
bodies,  the  mass  of  her  ministry  and  membership  holds 

1  See  article  of  Bishop  Holsey  in  "  The  Independent  "  for  March  5,  1891. 

2  "  The  Organic  Union  of  American  Methodism,"  p.  105. 

3  "  Handbook  of  Southern  Methodism,"  pp.  120-128. 


142 


THE  METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


[Chap.  xiii. 


that  it  is  safest  and  best  to  leave  that  momentous  question 
to  "  the  leadings  of  Providence  and  the  logic  of  events." 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  along  with  her 
sister  evangelical  churches,  stands  for  the  faith  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints,  for  the  pure  and  simple  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  ;  along 
with  other  Methodist  bodies,  she  stands  for  every  doctrine 
of  Arminian  Wesleyan  theology,  "  from  prevenient  grace 
to  perfect  love " ;  more  than  any  other  church  in  the 
world,  she  stands  for  Constitutional  Episcopal  Methodism. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


CHAPTER  L 

REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN  ELEMENT. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America  did 
not  head  at  a  single  fountain.  Several  springs  united  their 
tiny  rills  at  different  times  to  form  its  stream.  It  is  the 
result  of  several  unions,  and  its  antecedents  were  there- 
fore more  numerous  and  fragmentary  than  those  of  most 
churches.  This  has  thrown  a  veil  of  obscurity  over  much 
of  its  past  history,  and  strangers  to  its  communion  are 
easily  confused  in  reference  to  the  personality  and  rela- 
tions of  its  constituents. 

It  is  the  principal  American  representative  of  the  dis- 
senting churches  of  Scotland.  The  Scots  have  always  been 
distinguished  for  their  strength  of  will  and  tenacity  of  pur- 
pose, and  their  willingness  to  sacrifice  rather  than  to  yield 
their  convictions.  This  characteristic  has  shown  itself 
strongly  in  their  ecclesiastical  history,  for  it  has  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  existence  not  only  of  dissent  but  of 
division  and  subdivision  among  the  dissenters.  These 
separate  organizations  were  brought  to  America,  and  for 
a  time  kept  up  their  old  country  disputes,  and  remained 

145 


146 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap,  l 


antagonistic  until,  after  much  deliberation  and  negotiation, 
they  were  largely  gathered  into  one  body.  A  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  tangled  history  of  Scotch  dissent  will  be  found 
in  the  note  below.1 

The  oldest  of  these  dissenting  churches  is  the  Cove- 
nanting, or,  as  subsequently  styled  by  themselves,  the  Re- 
formed Presbyterian,  and  it  is  one  of  the  sources  from 
which  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America 
has  sprung,  and  its  impress  is  still  felt.  Its  existence  may 
be  said  to  date  from  the  "  Second  Reformation"  in  Scot- 
land (1638-46),  because  it  has  always  adhered  tenaciously 
to  the  attainments  made  in  the  National  Church  at  that 
time.  But  in  its  definite  and  more  independent  form  it 
may  be  regarded  as  a  result  of  the  badly  managed  battle 


1   Frfey^Tti-ri^niym  titw  dnring;  the  Prelatical  persecution. 


Auli-Uurgiier. 


Every  division  arose,  not  from  difference  in  reference  to  any  doctrine  of 
grace,  but  from  questions  connected  with  the  union  of  church  and  state. 

Last  century  was  marked  for  its  divisions,  this  one  for  its  unions.  Eighty 
years  ago  there  were  seven  distinct  Presbyterian  organizations  in  Scotland ; 
now  there  are  but  three,  with  residuary  fragments  of  Covenanters  and 
Original  Seceders. 


SCO TTISH  CO  VENANTERS. 


147 


of  Bothwell  Bridge,  fought  on  Sabbath,  June  22,  1679. 
The  remnant  which  escaped  from  that  disgraceful  rout, 
and  other  sympathizers,  banded  themselves  together  under 
the  guidance  of  Richard  Cameron  and  Donald  Cargill,  and 
utterly  refused  to  have  any  religious  communion  with  any 
minister  who  had  taken  the  "  Black  Indulgence."  And 
being  soon  outlawed,  they  held  secret  meetings  for  coun- 
sel and  for  worship  among  the  hills,  and  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  and  became  popularly  known  as  "  hill  men  "  and 
"mountain  men."  On  the  22d  of  June,  1680,  the  first 
anniversary  of  the  Bothwell  Bridge  disaster,  they  affixed 
a  declaration  to  the  market-cross  of  Sanquhar,  in  which 
they  formally  disowned  Charles  Stuart  as  their  lawful  sov- 
ereign, for  his  perjury,  his  breach  of  covenant,  and  his  tyr- 
anny ;  and  also  denied  the  right  of  James,  Duke  of  York, 
to  the  succession.  This  was  burning  the  bridge  behind 
them,  and  henceforth  they  neither  asked  nor  received 
quarter.  A  month  after  this  Cameron  was  surprised  and 
slain  at  Airdsmoss,  and  Cargill  was  finally  hunted  down 
and  executed  on  the  27th  of  July,  1681. 

This  left  the  Covenanters  without  a  minister,  and  they 
organized  a  system  of  societies.  Those  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood met  as  best  they  could,  and  as  often  as  they 
could,  for  prayer  and  mutual  edification.  A  plan  of  cor- 
respondence was  established,  according  to  which  commis- 
sioners from  all  these  societies  met  secretly  about  every 
three  months,  in  a  general  meeting,  which  settled  the  pol- 
icy and  action  of  the  whole  body,  and  solved  questions  of 
conscience,  but  never  undertook  the  administration  of  dis- 
cipline or  any  official  work.  The  first  of  these  general 
meetings1  convened  at  Logan  House,  in  Clydesdale,  on 

1  The  minutes  of  these  meetings  were  kept  by  Michael  Shields,  brother  of 
the  author  of  the  "  Hind  Let  Loose,"  and  may  be  found  in  "Faithful  Con- 
tendings  Displayed,"  published  by  John  Howie  in  1780,  in  Glasgow. 


148 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chap,  l 


the  15th  of  December,  1681.  This  method  of  unity  and 
fraternity  was  kept  up  until  a  Presbytery  was  organized. 
It  was  also  adopted  in  Ireland  and  subsequently  in  America. 

The  Covenanters  would  hear  no  minister  preach  nor  re- 
ceive ordination  from  any  one  who  had  taken  the  "  Indul- 
gence." This  compelled  them  to  do  without  the  sealing 
ordinances  or  to  procure  a  minister  from  abroad.  James 
Renwick,  a  young  man  of  good  education  and  one  of  their 
number,  was  sent  in  the  autumn  of  1682  to  the  Nether- 
lands, where  Mr.  Cameron  had  received  his  ordination. 
After  spending  the  winter  in  the  University  of  Groningen, 
he  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  ministry  on  the  10th  of 
May,  1683,  by  the  Classis  of  Groningen.  While  he  was 
pursuing  his  studies  abroad  the  General  Meeting  gave  a 
regular  call  to  Alexander  Peden,  Michael  Bruce,  and  Sam- 
uel Arnot,  Scotch  ministers,  now  refugees  in  Ireland,  to 
come  and  minister  to  them.  But  the  persecution  of  this 
"  contending  and  suffering  remnant  "  was  growing  hotter 
and  hotter,  and  these  ministers  declined.  Mr.  Renwick 
returned  in  September,  1683,  and  ministered  most  faith- 
fully amidst  very  many  dangers  and  difficulties.  So  hos- 
tile was  the  government,  and  so  numerous  and  vigilant 
were  its  spies,  that  his  first  sermon  in  the  fields  was  not 
until  the  23d  of  November,  at  Darmede.  He  was  repeat- 
edly outlawed  by  proclamation,  and  every  subject  was 
forbidden  "  to  harbor  him  and  his  followers,  or  supply 
them  with  meat  and  drink,  but  to  hunt  and  pursue  them 
out  of  all  their  dens,  caves,  and  most  retired  deserts,  and 
to  raise  the  hue  and  cry  after  them."  And  such  procla- 
mations were  always  vigorously  and  inhumanly  executed; 
and  yet  they  kept  the  4th  of  March,  1685,  as  "a  day  of 
thanksgiving  unto  the  Lord  for  the  wonderful  proofs  of 
his  love  and  good- will,  manifested  to  a  scattered  and  dis- 
tressed remnant  in  this  land,  by  his  delivering  of  them  in 


PERSECUTION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


1 49 


several  places  from  the  power  and  rage  of  enemies  when 
they  were  ready  to  swallow  them  up." 

The  death  of  Charles  II.  gave  them  a  short  breathing- 
spell,  which  they  improved  by  holding  a  meeting  on  the 
28th  of  May,  168$,  at  Blackgannock,  where  they  drafted 
a  protestation  against  proclaiming  James,  Duke  of  York, 
as  King  of  Scotland.  As  soon  as  this  meeting  had  ad- 
journed, two  hundred  and  twenty  men  in  arms  marched 
to  Sanquhar,  where  they  sang  a  Psalm,  Mr.  Renwick  made 
a  prayer,  and  then  they  published  this  protestation  and 
nailed  a  copy  to  the  market-cross. 

Mr.  Renwick  was  finally  captured  and  taken  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  here  executed  on  the  nth  of  February,  1688, 
in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  And  this  was  the 
last  life  sacrificed  to  the  cause  of  religious  freedom  in 
Scotland.  Alexander  Shields,  who  had  been  licensed  by 
some  Scottish  ministers  in  London,  joined  the  Covenanters 
in  December,  1686.  William  Boyd,  educated  at  their  ex- 
pense in  the  Netherlands,  was  licensed  in  September,  1687, 
by  the  Classis  of  Groningen.  Thomas  Lining  was  also 
sustained  by  them  for  four  years  at  universities  in  Hol- 
land, and  was  ordained  in  August,  1688,  by  the  Classis 
of  Embden,  after  an  examination  which  extended  over 
twenty-one  days.  Providence  now  brought  them  relief 
by  changing  their  circumstances  and  surroundings.  James 
was  banished,  and  William  and  Mary  were  brought  to  the 
throne.  Persecution  ceased,  and  the  "  hill  men  "  were  per- 
mitted to  worship  God  publicly,  and  according  to  the  teach- 
ings of  their  own  conscience. 

After  many  years  of  intermission  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  met  again  in  1690,  and  reestab- 
lished Presbyterianism.  Messrs.  Lining,  Shields,  and  Boyd, 
with  a  majority  of  their  followers,  united  now  with  the 
kirk,  but  there  was  a  minority  which  refused  to  do  so, 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chai>.  l 


because  of  William's  assumption  of  royal  supremacy  over 
the  church.  These  "  Old  Dissenters,"  as  now  called,  were 
again  without  a  minister,  and  so  remained  for  sixteen 
years,  but  free  from  persecutions  of  any  kind.  In  1706 
the  Rev.  John  McMillan,  of  the  Established  Church,  joined 
them  and  became  their  minister.  In  1  743  he  was  joined 
by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Nairne,  from  the  Secession  Church, 
and  they,  with  the  aid  of  some  ruling  elders,  constituted 
themselves,  August  1,  1743,  into  a  Presbytery,  which  they 
styled  the  "  Reformed  Presbytery."  One  of  their  first 
acts  was  to  license  Alexander  Marshall,  who  had  studied 
under  Mr.  McMillan.  He  was  soon  afterward  ordained 
to  the  ministry,  "  having  received  a  call  from  the  United 
Societies."  May  16,  1744,  they  licensed,  and  October 
6th  following  ordained,  John  Cuthbertson,  another  of  Mr. 
McMillan's  students. 

During  the  twenty-seven  years  of  persecution  in  Scot- 
land many  families  of  Covenanter  sympathies  fled  for 
peace  and  safety  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  they  settled 
in  little  clusters  and  were  served  occasionally  by  refugee 
ministers.  About  1662  Rev.  David  Houstoun  fled  to  and 
settled  in  Ireland,  and  ministered  to  them  until  his  death, 
in  1696.  As  early  as  1720,  and  possibly  earlier,  some  of 
these  families  left  Ireland  and  made  their  homes  in  Amer- 
ica, and  from  time  to  time  others  followed,  and  in  this  way 
the  Covenanting  Church  was  planted  in  this  country.  A 
few  mingled  with  this  migration  who  came  directly  from 
the  west  of  Scotland,  but  generally  they  were  from  Ireland, 
although  of  Scottish  parentage. 

These  immigrants  located  principally  on  the  Walkill, 
Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  and  in  the  bounds  of  the  present 
counties  of  Lancaster,  Dauphin,  York,  Adams,  Cumber- 
land, Franklin,  and  Fulton,  in  Pennsylvania,  with  scatter- 
ing families  elsewhere,  and  especially  in  the  interior  of 


COVENANTER  IMMIGRATION 


151 


South  Carolina.  They  brought  with  them  their  system 
of  praying  societies  and  a  general  correspondence,  and 
soon  confederated,  and  kept  themselves  distinct  from  'the 
Presbyterian  churches  in  their  neighborhoods.  As  many 
as  could  met  together  in  1743,  on  the  Middle  Octorara,  in 
Lancaster  County,  and  renewed  their  covenant  obligations. 
In  this  they  were  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Craig- 
head, who,  although  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  sympathized  with  the  Covenanters 
in  their  peculiar  views  and  took  great  interest  in  their  wel- 
fare, and  for  years  preached  for  them  considerably,  and 
for  a  time  actually  joined  them.  He  wrote  on  their  be- 
half to  the  Reformed  Presbytery  in  Scotland,  and  was  in- 
strumental in  procuring  them  a  minister. 

In  1750  the  Presbytery  in  Scotland  sent  the  Rev.  John 
Cuthbertson  to  visit  the  societies  in  Ireland,  which  had 
been  without  a  minister  since  the  death  of  David  Hous- 
toun.  Here  he  remained  for  a  year,  and  then,  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  Presbytery,  came  to  America.  He  landed 
August  5,  1 75 1,  at  New  Castle,  Del.,  and  immediately 
commenced  an  exploration  of  his  missionary  field.  He 
preached  almost  every  day  for  a  time,  at  Octorara,  Pequea, 
Paxtang,  and  across  the  Susquehanna  at  Walter  Buchan- 
an's, Big  Spring,  Rocky  Spring,  in  the  Cove,  and  returned 
by  way  of  Gettysburg  and  York  to  his  headquarters  on 
the  Octorara.  This  circuit  he  made  more  or  less  frequently 
for  twenty  years.  He  also  made  two  or  three  visits  into 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  as  far  as  Rhode  Island,  and 
westward  as  far  as  Pittsburg.  At  his  preaching-stations 
there  were  no  meeting-houses  for  years.  When  the  weather 
permitted  they  met  in  "  tents,"  and  when  it  was  not  pro- 
pitious they  did  the  best  they  could  in  their  cabins.  This 
"  tent  "  was  pitched  in  a  shady  grove,  and  consisted  simply 
of  a  small  elevated  platform  for  the  minister,  where  he 


152 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chap.  I. 


could  be  seen  and  heard  by  all ;  a  board  nailed  against  a 
tree  supported  the  Bible,  and  a  few  rude  benches  served 
for  seats,  and  some  boards  overhead  protected  the  minister 
from  sun  and  rain.  Thus  accommodated,  they  worshiped 
a  good  part  of  the  day. 

On  the  23d  of  August,  1752,  Mr.  Cuthbertson  held 
his  first  communion  in  America.  It  was  at  Stony  Ridge, 
in  the  Buchanan  or  Junkin  "  tent,"  now  New  Kingston, 
Cumberland  County,  Pa.  A  preparatory  fast-day  was 
observed,  tokens  of  admission  were  dispensed,  and  the 
services  of  the  Sabbath  began  early  and  lasted  for  nine 
hours.  He  paraphrased  the  fifteenth  Psalm,  and  preached 
from  John  iii.  35,  "  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath 
given  all  things  into  his  hands."  After  the  sermon  he 
prayed  and  they  sang;  he  then  expounded  the  ordinance, 
and  debarred  from  and  invited  to  the  tables.  The  com- 
municants came  to  the  tables  singing  the  twenty-fourth 
Psalm.  After  four  table  services  were  concluded  he  gave 
a  parting  exhortation  to  the  communicants  and  prayed. 
After  an  interval  of  half  an  hour  he  preached  again,  from 
John  xvi.  31,  "  Jesus  answered  them,  Do  ye  now  believe?  " 
On  Monday  he  preached  from  Ephesians  v.  15,  "  See  that 
ye  walk  circumspectly,  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise."  About 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons  communed,  and  this  must 
have  comprised  very  nearly  the  entire  number  of  adult 
Covenanters  in  Pennsylvania,  for  the  place  was  central,  the 
season  was  pleasant,  and  they  gathered  in  from  their 
different  settlements,  and  nearly  every  adult  was  a  com- 
municant. 

This  was  the  first  time  that  the  followers  of  Cameron, 
Cargill,  and  Renwick  had  ever,  outside  the  British  Isles, 
gathered  together  around  the  communion-table  of  the 
Lord,  to  eat  bread  and  drink  wine  in  commemoration  of  a 
Saviour's  love  and  atoning  death.    To  them  it  must  have 


FIRST  COMMUNION. 


153 


been  a  high  day.  It  brought  them  to  a  mount  of  ordi- 
nances, and  spread  for  them  a  table  in  the  wilderness, 
giving  them  thus  a  tangible  evidence  of  the  thoughtfulness 
and  tender  care  of  the  Great  Shepherd.  It  also  waked 
the  memory  of  other  days  and  of  other  scenes,  and  called 
up  the  forms  and  caresses  of  loved  ones  parted  with  be- 
yond the  sea.  Their  tears  were  doubtless  mingled  ones 
of  gladness  and  of  sorrow,  half  of  earth  and  half  of  heaven. 
Such  a  scene  of  gratitude  and  of  praise,  of  memory  and  of 
tears,  must  have  strengthened  every  heart  and  quickened 
every  grace,  and  made  them  to  sing,  as  they  never  sang 
before,  that  triumphant  song  which  had  so  often  sustained 
and  cheered  their  persecuted  ancestors  when  "  mountain 
men  "  in  Scotland  : 

God  is  our  refuge  and  our  strength, 

In  straits  a  present  aid  ; 
Therefore,  although  the  earth  remove, 

We  will  not  be  afraid. 

Mr.  Cuthbertson  had  now  finished  the  first  year  of  his 
missionary  labors,  during  which  he  preached  on  a  hundred 
and  twenty  days,  baptized  a  hundred  and  ten  children, 
married  ten  couples,  and  rode  on  horseback  twenty-five 
hundred  miles.  The  toil  and  labor,  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  of  such  a  year's  work  cannot  now  be  estimated  or 
appreciated.  He  was  more  than  one  hundred  days  in  the 
saddle ;  he  had  to  cross,  without  the  aid  of  bridge  or  boat, 
streams  of  considerable  volume,  and  often  when  greatly 
swollen ;  he  had  to  pass  from  one  settlement  to  another 
through  miles  of  heavy,  unbroken  forests,  where  were  the 
lair  of  the  wild  beast  and  the  wigwam  of  the  cruel  redman, 
without  the  advantage  of  roads,  and  guided  often  by  the 
blazed  trees  which  marked  a  trail.  The  summer's  sun 
and  the  winter's  frost,  the  drenching  rain  and  the  drifting 
snow  had  to  be  boldly  met  and  patiently  endured.  His 


154 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  I. 


studying  had  to  be  largely  done  on  horseback,  without  the 
aid  of  helps,  during  the  tedious  hours  of  his  lonely  rides. 
His  food  by  day  and  lodgings  at  night  were  guiltless  of 
any  special  comforts,  and  barely  met  the  demands  of  ne- 
cessity. And  yet  this  apostolic  man  toiled  on  for  thirty- 
nine  years,  during  which  time  he  preached  on  twenty-four 
hundred  and  fifty-two  days,  baptized  eighteen  hundred 
and  six  children,  married  two  hundred  and  forty  couples, 
and  rode  on  horseback  about  seventy  thousand  miles,  or 
nearly  equal  to  three  times  around  the  world.  His  dust 
now  sleeps  on  the  Octorara's  bank,  awaiting  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  just,  and  we  would  gladly  bring  a  flower  and 
lay  it  upon  his  grave  in  honor  of  his  life,  and  in  token  of 
gratitude  for  the  privileges  which  we  now  enjoy,  partly 
through  his  labors  and  sacrifices.1 

He  ordained  his  first  bench  of  ruling  elders  April  8, 
1752,  at  Rocky  Spring,  near  Chambersburg,  Pa.  These 
were  James  and  George  Wilson,  of  Fulton  County,  George 
Mitchell,  of  Rocky  Spring,  and  David  Dunwoodie  and 
Jeremiah  Morrow,  of  Adams  County.  In  December  of 
the  same  year  he  ordained  several  more  at  Octorara,  who 
belonged  to  the  stations  east  of  the  river.  These  had  not 
only  a  local  jurisdiction  but  also  a  general  supervision  over 
all  the  associated  societies.  For  several  years  only  one 
communion  was  held  every  year,  and  this  was  for  the 
benefit  of  the  whole.  A  central  location  was  selected 
during  the  pleasant  weather  of  the  late  summer  or  early 
autumn,  and  the  members  from  all  the  stations  were  ex- 
pected to  be  present  and  participate,  and  they  were  always 
received  with  a  large  and  hearty  hospitality  by  the  resi- 
dent families.    The  second  communion  was  on  the  14th 

1  Mr.  Cuthbertson  kept  a  diary  in  which  he  carefully  recorded  every  act 
and  incident.  This  diary  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Buchanan,  of  Steubenville,  O. 


REFORMED  PRESBYTERY  ORGANIZED.  155 


of  October,  1753,  at  Paxtang,  Dauphin  County,  Pa.,  when 
about  two  hundred  communed.  The  third  was  at  the 
same  place,  on  the  25th  of  August,  1754,  when  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  participated.  Mr.  Cuthbertson  mentions 
in  his  diary  that  upon  this  occasion,  while  engaged  in 
prayer,  asking  a  blessing  upon  the  use  of  the  bread  and 
wine,  a  fearful  thunderstorm  broke  upon  them,  killing  four 
horses  and  a  dog  some  forty  yards  from  the  "  tent." 

In  the  spring  of  1773  Mr.  William  Brown,  of  Paxtang, 
went  as  a  commissioner  to  Ireland  to  procure  two  addi- 
tional ministers,  and  was  specially  instructed  to  get,  if 
possible,  the  Rev.  Matthew  Lind,  pastor  at  Aghadowey, 
Londonderry  County,  as  one  of  these.  Mr.  Lind  and 
Alexander  Dobbin,  specially  licensed  and  ordained  for  this 
purpose,  returned  with  him.  They  landed  at  New  Castle, 
Del.,  in  December,  1773,  and  on  the  10th  of  March,  1774, 
Messrs.  Cuthbertson,  Lind,  and  Dobbin,  with  several  ruling 
elders,  met  at  Paxtang,  six  miles  east  of  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
and  constituted  themselves  as  the  Reformed  Presbytery  of 
America.  They  distributed  their  labors  thus:  Mr.  Cuth- 
bertson to  reside  on  the  Middle  Octorara,  and  take  charge 
of  that  church  and  of  Muddy  Run,  in  Lancaster  County, 
and  Lower  Chanceford,  in  York  County ;  Mr.  Lind  to 
locate  at  Paxtang,  and  have  the  pastoral  care  of  that  con- 
gregation and  the  one  at  Stony  Ridge,  in  Cumberland 
County  ;  Mr.  Dobbin  to  reside  at  Rock  Creek,  now  Gettys- 
burg, and  serve  that  church,  and  also  the  one  at  East 
Conecocheague,  now  Greencastle,  Franklin  County.  David 
Telfair,  of  the  Burgher  Synod  of  Scotland,  who  had  sup- 
plied a  Burgher  congregation  in  Shippen  Street,  Philadel- 
phia, for  ten  years,  joined  this  presbytery  on  the  12th  of 
August,  1780. 

The  most  distinctive  item  in  the  creed  of  the  Covenanters 
was  their  refusal  to  profess  allegiance  to  an  immoral  gov- 


156 


THE  I  XI TED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  i. 


ernment.  They  not  only  admitted,  but  insisted  upon  it, 
that  civil  government  was  a  divine  institution,  but  at  the 
same  time  contended  that  every  system  of  civil  government 
was  not  from  God,  because  "  it  is  not  the  fact  that  it  does 
exist,  but  its  moral  cJiaracter,  that  determines  whether  it 
be  the  ordinance  of  God  or  not."  For  their  refusal  of  alle- 
giance to  the  administrations  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II. 
they  suffered  a  more  cruel  and  unrelenting  persecution 
than  Roman  emperor  ever  waged  against  Christianity ; 
nevertheless  they  maintained  their  faith,  and  when  tolera- 
tion came  under  William  and  Mary,  they  still  refused  to 
swear  allegiance  to  the  British  Government  because  its 
sovereign,  whether  saint  or  sinner,  exercised  a  royal  su- 
premacy over  the  church. 

In  their  new  surroundings  in  America  they  found  many 
Associate  Presbyterians,  or  Seceders,  from  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  In  matters  of  faith  and  modes  of  witnessing  for 
the  truth  they  were  at  one  with  them,  so  when  the  colonies 
asserted  their  independence  of  the  British  crown  they  felt 
that  the  barrier  of  political  dissent  need  no  longer  keep 
them  apart.  Negotiations  for  a  union  were  at  once  com- 
menced, and  about  the  1st  of  December,  1 78 1 ,  the  Re- 
formed Presbytery  unanimously  adopted  the  terms  of  union 
offered  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  all 
its  ministers  and  fully  organized  congregations  went  into 
the  union,  which  was  consummated  October  31,  1782, 
and  by  which  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  was  formed. 
Most  of  the  isolated  societies  which  were  not  under  direct 
pastoral  influence  took  no  part  in  this  union,  but  went  on 
as  before,  and  wrote  to  the  fatherland  for  a  supply  of  min- 
isters. In  1789  the  Rev.  James  Reid,  of  Scotland,  visited 
America  and  examined  the  whole  field  from  New  York  to 
South  Carolina,  and  then  returned  home  and  reported  his 
observations.    The  Rev.  Mr.  McGarragh  was  sent  out  in 


UNION  WITH  THE  SECEDERS. 


157 


1 79 1  from  Ireland,  and  Rev.  William  King  in  1792  from 
Scotland.  They  were  authorized  to  manage  the  affairs  of 
the  Covenanting  Church  as  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Scotland.  Others  soon  joined  them,  and  in  1 798  a  new 
Reformed  Presbytery  of  America  was  organized,  and  through 
it  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  continued  to 
the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

In  1690,  after  the  long  and  sore  persecution  under 
Charles  II.  and  James  II.  was  terminated  by  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne,  Presbyterianism  was 
reestablished  in  Scotland.  So  great  was  the  desire  of  the 
government  to  avoid  as  much  ecclesiastical  excitement  as 
possible,  that  the  General  Assembly  allowed  several  hun- 
dred of  the  Episcopal  incumbents  to  retain  their  charges, 
upon  the  single  condition  that  they  would  submit  to  that 
very  Presbyterian  system  which  they  had  helped  the  per- 
secutors to  overthrow.  Of  these  men  Bishop  Burnet  says : 
"  They  were  the  worst  preachers  I  ever  heard ;  they  were 
ignorant  to  a  reproach,  and  many  of  them  were  clearly 
vicious.  They  were  a  disgrace  to  their  orders,  and  were 
indeed  the  dregs  and  the  refuse  of  the  northern  parts. 
Those  of  them  that  rose  above  contempt  and  scandal  were 
men  of  such  violent  tempers  that  they  were  as  much  hated 
as  the  others  were  despised."  The  result  of  such  politic 
lenity  was  a  rapid  growth  of  error  and  corruption  in  the 
church,  so  that  within  thirty  years  Professor  Sirnson  was 
permitted  to  teach  in  the  divinity  chair  of  Glasgow  some 
of  the  worst  errors  of  heathenism,  and  yet  was  allowed  to 
retain  the  emoluments  of  his  office  and  remain  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  church  until  his  death. 

The  church  being  established  by  law,  the  settlement  of 
its  ministers  was  not  by  the  election  of  the  members,  but 
by  the  presentation  of  a  patron.    As  the  corrupt  party 

158 


THE  SECESSION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


159 


increased  in  number  and  power  they  made  the  system 
of  patronage  more  and  more  oppressive,  until  the  people 
ceased  to  have  either  power  or  privilege,  and  even  the  poor 
boon  of  remonstrance  was  withdrawn. 

At  this  stage  of  affairs  some  of  the  evangelical  minis- 
ters republished  "  The  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity,"  by 
Edward  Fisher,  of  England,  believing  that  its  circulation 
would  help  the  cause  of  truth.  This  roused  the  indignation 
of  the  Moderates,  and  in  the  Assembly  of  1720  they  con- 
demned a  number  of  propositions  which  they  claimed  to 
have  gathered  from  that  book.  Against  this  act  twelve 
of  the  most  eminent  ministers  of  the  church  prepared  a 
"  Representation,"  or  explanatory  protest.  These  men 
were  James  Hog,  Thomas  Boston,  John  Bonar,  John 
Williamson,  James  Kid,  Gabriel  Wilson,  Ebenezer  Erskine, 
Ralph  Erskine,  James  Wardlaw,  Henry  Davidson,  John 
Bathgate,  and  William  *Hunter.  Their  paper  was  con- 
sidered in  1722,  and  resulted  in  the  condemnation  of  the 
alleged  doctrines  of  the  "Marrow";  and,  following  the 
example  of  Rome  in  its  "  Index  Expurgatorius,"  the  As- 
sembly "  strictly  prohibited  and  discharged  all  ministers  of 
the  church  to  use,  by  writing,  preaching,  catechising,  or 
otherwise  teaching,  either  publicly  or  privately,  the  posi- 
tions condemned,  or  what  may  be  equivalent  to  them  or 
of  like  tendency,  under  pain  of  the  censures  of  the  church 
conformed  to  the  merit  of  their  offense."  The  "  Repre- 
sentee "  were  also  rebuked  and  admonished  by  the  moder- 
ator. That  the  Moderates  might  have  a  free  and  unre- 
strained course,  the  Barrier  Act,  or  Law  of  Overtures,  was 
suspended,  and  protests  and  dissents  were  no  longer  re- 
corded. 

The  evangelical  party,  being  thus  shut  out  from  the 
judicatories  of  the  church,  concluded  to  carry  the  cause 
into  the  pulpit.    The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine,  as  modera- 


l6o  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  ii. 


tor,  opened  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirl- 
ing, on  the  1 8th  of  October,  1732,  with  a  sermon  from  the 
text:  "The  stone  which  the  builders  refused  is  become 
the  headstone  of  the  corner"  (Psalm  cxviii.  22).  He 
treated  of  the  church  as  a  building,  of  Christ  as  the  foun- 
dation of  the  building,  of  the  builders,  of  their  error  in 
refusing  Christ,  and  of  the  glory  to  which  Christ  will  be 
exalted  as  the  headstone  in  spite  of  all  the  attempts  of 
these  builders  to  thrust  him  out  of  his  place.  In  his  re- 
marks upon  the  Jewish  builders  he  said  some  things  that 
appeared  not  very  complimentary  to  some  of  the  builders 
before  him,  and  which  caused  considerable  hard  feeling 
toward  the  preacher.  He  was  immediately  called  to  an 
account  for  what  was  regarded  as  the  injurious  reflections 
contained  in  his  sermon,  and  after  a  warm  discussion  of 
three  days'  continuance  he  was  adjudged  by  a  majority 
of  six  to  be  rebuked.  From  this  •sentence  he  appealed  to 
the  General  Assembly.  His  son-in-law,  the  Rev.  James 
Fisher,  joined  him  in  this  appeal.  Fourteen  others  dis- 
sented and  protested,  among  whom  were  the  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Moncrieff  and  the  Rev.  William  Wilson.  When 
the  case  came  up  in  the  Assembly  of  May,  1733,  Messrs. 
Moncrieff  and  Wilson  were  denied  a  hearing  in  behalf  of 
their  dissent,  and  Mr,  Fisher  in  support  of  his  protest. 
Mr.  Erskine  alone  was  heard,  and  the  Assembly  sustained 
the  Synod,  and  ordered  him  to  be  rebuked  at  their  own 
bar  in  order  to  terminate  the  process.  He  submitted  to 
the  rebuke,  and  then  immediately  produced  a  paper  in 
which  he  protested  against  the  censure  which  had  been 
administered,  as  importing  that  he  had  in  his  sermon 
departed  from  the  Word  of  God  and  the  standards  of  the 
church.  He  also  claimed  that  he  should  "  be  at  liberty  to 
preach  the  same  truths  of  God,  and  to  testify  against  the 
same  or  like  defections  of  the  church  upon  all  proper  oc- 


SECESSION  COMPLETED. 


161 


casions."  In  this  protest  he  was  joined  by  Messrs.  Mon- 
crieff,  Wilson,  and  Fisher. 

The  protest  was  refused  a  hearing,  as  was  the  custom 
of  that  day,  and  laid  upon  the  table  unread.  It  accident- 
ally fell  to  the  floor,  and  a  member  near  by  picked  it  up 
and  read  it,  and  then  called  upon  the  Assembly  to  stop 
proceedings  and  take  notice  of  "  the  insufferable  insult " 
offered  by  the  presentation  of  such  a  paper.  The  protest 
was  then  publicly  read,  and  McKerrow  says:  "The  whole 
Assembly  was  in  an  uproar.  A  paper  containing  high 
treason  against  the  sovereign  or  blasphemy  against  the 
majesty  of  Heaven  could  not  have  called  forth  a  greater 
burst  of  indignation."  The  four  brethren  were  ordered 
to  appear  before  the  Assembly  on  the  next  morning,  which 
they  did,  and,  refusing  to  withdraw  their  paper,  were 
directed  to  appear  before  the  Commission  in  August  next, 
"  and  then  show  their  sorrow  for  their  conduct  and  mis- 
behavior in  offering  to  protest,  and  in  giving  in  to  the 
Assembly  the  paper  by  them  subscribed,  and  that  they 
then  retract  the  same."  If  they  refused  to  do  this,  the 
Commission  was  directed  to  proceed  to  a  higher  censure. 
When  the  Commission  met  in  August  the  brethren  re- 
fused to  retract  their  protest,  and  were  suspended  "  from 
the  exercise  of  the  ministerial  functions  and  all  the  parts 
thereof."  The  brethren  continued  the  exercise  of  their 
ministry  without  any  regard  to  this  act  of  suspension,  and 
received  considerable  encouragement  in  so  doing.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Commission  in  November  petitions  were 
sent  in  from  seven  synods  and  a  number  of  presbyteries 
in  their  favor,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  Commission  were 
in  favor  of  delay.  A  motion  to  postpone  was  lost  by  the 
casting  vote  of  the  moderator.  It  was  finally  carried  to 
"  loose  the  relation  of  the  said  four  ministers  to  their 
charges,  and  declare  them  no  longer  ministers  of  this 


162 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  II. 


church,  and  to  prohibit  all  ministers  of  this  church  to 
employ  them  in  any  ministerial  function."  Seven  of  the 
ministers  of  the  Commission  protested  against  this  act,  and 
avowed  their  willingness  to  hold  ministerial  communion 
with  them. 

The  four  exscinded  ministers  handed  in  a  paper  declaring 
themselves  under  the  necessity  of  SECEDING  from  the 
church,  and  they  soon  afterward  met  and  organized  as  a 
Presbytery,  which  they  styled  the  Associated,  and  published 
what  was  known  as  the  "  Extra-judicial  Testimony."  In 
this  they  defended  their  action  on  the  ground  of  the  evils 
in  the  church,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  thrust  out 
because  of  their  testifying  against  these  evils.  They  per- 
formed no  judicial  act  for  three  years,  hoping  that  some- 
thing would  be  done  by  which  they  could  consistently 
return  to  the  church.  There  was  a  strong  evangelical 
party  in  the  church  which  sympathized  with  them,  and 
gave  very  free  expression  to  their  sympathy.  The  As- 
sembly of  1734  was  somewhat  alarmed  and  anxious  as 
to  the  consequences,  and  tried  to  conciliate.  The  Bar- 
rier Acts  were  restored ;  the  act  prohibiting  the  recording 
of  reasons  of  dissent  and  the  act  anent  the  planting  of 
churches  were  declared  to  be  "  no  longer  binding  rules  of 
this  church";  and  the  Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirling  was 
directed  to  remove  the  censures  from  the  four  brethren 
and  to  restore  them  to  their  charges.  The  Synod  did  all 
this  on  the  2d  of  July,  "  with  one  voice  and  consent,"  and 
then  elected  Mr.  Erskine,  in  his  absence,  to  the  modera- 
tor's chair.  The  four  brethren  considered  these  overtures 
of  conciliation  long  and  earnestly,  and  finally  concluded 
to  decline  them,  upon  the  simple  ground  that  only  some 
errors  were  corrected,  while  the  principle  which  produced 
these  errors  remained  unchanged,  and  consequently  prom- 
ised only  a  temporary  peace.    The  succeeding  Assemblies 


SECESSION  ORGANIZED. 


163 


fully  vindicated  the  Seceders  in  their  course,  for  some  of 
the  evangelical  party  felt  constrained  in  a  few  years  to 
make  another  secession  and  form  the  Relief  Church. 

In  the  summer  of  1736  the  Associated  brethren  began 
to  act  judicially  as  a  Presbytery,  and  on  the  3d  of  De- 
cember they  emitted  an  elaborate  "Judicial  Testimony." 
Little  societies  quickly  sprang  up  in  many  places,  which 
applied  to  them  for  ordinances ;  and  as  there  were  young 
men  in  the  universities  who  sympathized  with  them,  Mr. 
Wilson  was  appointed  as  their  professor  of  divinity.  In 
1737  Thomas  Mair,  of  Orwell,  and  Ralph  Erskine,  of  Dun- 
fermline, joined  the  Presbytery,  and  in  1738  Thomas 
Nairne,  of  Abbotshall,  and  James  Thompson,  of  Burntis- 
land, making  eight  in  all.  The  Assembly  of  1739  cited 
them  all  to  appear  and  answer  for  schism,  and  the  eight 
brethren  presented  themselves  before  the  bar  of  the  As- 
sembly as  a  constituted  Presbytery,  and  formally  declined 
the  authority  of  the  judicatories  of  the  church.  The  As- 
sembly of  1740  proceeded  to  depose  them  from  the  min- 
istry, and  ordered  their  expulsion  by  force  from  their 
churches  and  manses.  This  terminated  all  connection  with 
the  kirk. 

The  increase  of  ministers  and  churches  was  such  that  in 
1 744  there  were  twenty-six  settled  charges.  These  were 
so  scattered  that  in  that  year  the  body  was  divided  into 
three  Presbyteries,  subordinate  to  a  Synod.  During  the 
next  year  the  question  was  started  as  to  the  lawfulness  of 
taking  certain  burgess  oaths  which  contained  this  clause : 
"  Here  I  protest,  before  God  and  your  lordships,  that  I 
profess  and  allow  with  my  heart  the  true  religion  presently 
professed  within  this  realm,  and  authorized  by  the  laws 
thereof;  I  shall  abide  thereat,  and  defend  the  same  to  my 
life's  end,  renouncing  the  Roman  religion  called  Papistry." 
The  Synod  was  nearly  equally  divided  as  to  the  lawfulness 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chai\  ii. 


of  their  members'  taking  this  oath.  One  party  insisted 
that  the  expression  "  the  true  religion  presently  professed  " 
simply  designated  the  Protestant  religion  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  Roman.  The  other  contended  that  it  implied 
allegiance  to  the  kirk  in  its  present  corrupted  condition. 
The  controversy  waxed  so  hot  that  in  1 747  the  Synod 
divided,  and  the  Secession  was  continued  in  two  branches, 
the  Burgher  and  the  Anti-Burgher,  until  September  8, 
1820,  when  they  were  reunited  to  form  the  United  Seces- 
sion Church. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA. 

As  early  as  1742  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Scotland 
received  a  petition  from  Londonderry,  Chester  County, 
Pa.,  asking  that  an  ordained  minister  or  a  probationer 
might  be  sent  to  labor  in  that  district.  But  the  few 
brethren  had  none  to  send.  In  1750  and  1 75 1  petitions 
were  sent  to  the  Anti- Burgher  Synod  asking  for  a  supply 
for  the  eastern  counties  of  Pennsylvania.  After  some  fail- 
ures to  accept  appointments,  Mr.  Alexander  Gellatly  con- 
sented, and  was  licensed  and  ordained  as  the  first  Associate 
missionary  to  America.  The  Rev.  Andrew  Arnot,  pastor 
at  Midholm,  offered  to  go  with  him,  with  the  liberty  of 
returning  at  the  end  of  a  year,  if  he  so  desired.  They 
sailed  in  the  summer  of  1753,  and  found  a  wide  and 
promising  field  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna.  On 
the  2d  of  November,  1753,  they  organized  a  Presbytery, 
which  they  styled  the  "  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsyl- 
vania," subordinate  to  the  Associate  Anti- Burgher  Synod 
of  Scotland.  They  were  at  once  invited  by  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Castle  of  the  "  New  Light  "  Presbyterian  Synod  of 
New  York  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  them.  This  was  of 
course  declined,  and  that  Presbytery  forthwith  issued  a 
warning  to  their  congregations  against  these  men  as  schis- 
matics and  separatists,  and  as  being  heretical  on  the  gospel 
offer,  the  nature  of  faith,  and  sundry  other  things.  Mr. 
Gellatly  answered  this  warning  in  a  publication  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  pages.    Messrs.  Finley  and  Smith,- of 

165 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  hi. 


the  New  Castle  Presbytery,  replied,  and  Mr.  Gellatly  fol- 
lowed with  a  second  answer  of  two  hundred  and  three 
pages.  The  controversy  was  of  great  service  to  the  new 
brethren,  for  it  advertised  them  very  extensively. 

In  September,  1754,  the  Rev.  James  Proudfoot  arrived 
from  Scotland  and  joined  the  Presbytery,  and  Mr.  Arnot, 
having  finished  his  year,  returned  to  his  pastoral  charge  in 
Scotland.  The  mission  of  these  three  men  cost  the  Synod 
about  five  hundred  dollars,  and,  considering  the  fewness 
and  the  feebleness  of  its  congregations,  it  was  a  very  gen- 
erous contribution  to  the  cause  of  missions.  Mr.  Gellatly 
was  settled  over  the  congregation  of  Octorara,  in  Lancas- 
ter County,  and  also  over  Oxford,  in  Chester  County,  until 
relieved  of  the  latter  by  Mr.  Henderson.  Mr.  Proudfit 
traveled  among  the  churches  for  three  or  four  years,  and 
then  settled  at  Pequea,  in  Lancaster  County.  In  1758 
Matthew  Henderson  arrived  from  Scotland  and  settled  at 
Oxford,  giving  one  third  of  his  time  to  Pencader,  in  the 
edge  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  near  the  present  town  of 
Newark.  On  the  12th  of  March,  1761,  Mr.  Gellatly  died, 
and  during  the  same  year  John  Mason,  minister,  and  Rob- 
ert Annan  and  John  Smart,  licentiates,  arrived.  Mr.  Mason 
was  immediately  settled  in  New  York  City,  over  a  congre- 
gation which  had  sent  for  him  ;  Mr.  Annan  was  ordained 
and  installed  June  8,  1763,  at  Marsh  Creek,  in  Adams 
County,  Pa.,  and  Mr.  Smart,  after  a  year  or  two,  returned 
to  Scotland.  In  the  autumn  of  1 763  William  Marshall 
arrived,  and  was,  August  30,  1765,  ordained  and  installed 
at  Deep  Run,  in  Bucks  County,  Pa. 

Thus  far  all  the  Associate  ministers  were  from  the  Anti- 
Burgher  Synod  of  Scotland,  but  in  1  764  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Clarke,  M.D.,  and  over  two  hundred  of  his  congregation 
in  Ballybay,  Ireland,  arrived  and  finally  located  in  Salem, 
N.  Y.    Dr.  Clarke  was  from  the  Burgher  Presbytery  in 


THOMAS  CLARKE. 


167 


Ireland,  which  was  subordinate  to  the  Burgher  Synod  of 
Scotland,  but  he  did  not  wish  to  continue  a  division  in 
the  Secession,  which  could  have  no  possible  grounds  or 
significancy  in  this  country,  where  there  were  no  burgess 
oaths,  so  he  applied  at  once  to  the  Associate  Presbytery 
of  Pennsylvania  for  admission.  After  some  delay  and 
considerable  negotiations  as  to  terms,  he  was  admitted, 
September  2,  1765,  upon  the  following  conditions,  viz. : 

1.  That  Mr.  Clarke  shall  not,  either  publicly  or  privately,  justify  the  bur- 
gess oath,  or  any  writing  published  in  defense  of  it,  nor  give  countenance  to 
any  in  taking  such  a  step ;  and  the  Presbytery  agrees  to  drop  the  whole  con- 
troversy concerning  it. 

2.  That  Mr.  Clarke  concur  with  this  Presbytery  in  adhering  to  the 
National  Covenant  and  the  Solemn  League,  with  the  Bond  of  renewing  the 
same,  together  with  the  Act,  Declaration  and  Testimony,  as  they  were  owned 
and  professed  before  the  unhappy  division,  and  that  he  endeavors  to  prose- 
cute the  ends  of  them  in  his  place  and  station. 

3.  That  Mr.  Clarke  shall  not  endeavor  to  obtain  a  Presbytery  in  America 
constituted  in  opposition  to  this  Presbytery,  nor  countenance  any  attempt 
toward  erecting  such  a  Presbytery. 

4.  That  Mr.  Clarke  shall  not  preach  upon  an  invitation  from  people  who 
are  in  full  communion  with  or  have  made  application  to  this  Presbytery  for 
sermon  without  their  allowance,  nor  countenance  any  brother  in  taking  such 
a  step. 

5.  That  Mr.  Clarke  shall  acknowledge  that  this  Presbytery  and  the  Synod 
in  Scotland,  to  which  it  is  subordinate,  are  lawful  courts  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  the  Presbytery  likewise  acknowledges  that  the  other  Synod  is  a  lawful 
court  of  Christ ;  nor  do  the  Presbytery  desire  that  he  renounce  his  subjection 
to  that  Synod  according  to  these  terms. 

6.  That  the  members  of  this  Presbytery  shall  not,  either  publicly  or  pri- 
vately, justify  the  act  condemning  the  burgess  oath,  or  the  censures  passed 
against  some  of  Mr.  Clarke's  brethren  by  their  Synod,  or  justify  any  writing 
in  defense  of  said  censures,  or  countenance  any  step  tending  thereto. 

7.  That  the  Presbytery  and  Mr.  Clarke  shall  endeavor  to  strengthen  one 
another  in  pursuance  of  these  terms,  and  to  bring  about  a  general  healing  of 
the  unhappy  division  in  a  Scriptural  way. 

8.  That  our  Secession,  we  must  acknowledge,  is  such  as  is  declared  to  be 
in  the  ground  of  secession  contained  in  the  first  "  Testimony,"  which  is  ap- 
proved of  and  made  judicial  in  the  "  Judicial  Testimony,"  and  is  substan- 
tially declared  in  our  Declaration,  and  so  we  look  upon  ourselves  as  standing 
upon  the  same  footing  as  before  the  rupture. 


1 68 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  hi. 


9.  That  upon  subscribing  to  these  terms  the  Presbytery  and  Mr.  Clarke 
shall  in  the  meantime  and  henceforward  maintain  a  brotherly  communication 
with  each  other. 

McKerrow,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Secession  Church," 
states : 

In  September,  1765,  an  application  was  received  from  some  of  the  in- 
habitants of  New  Cambridge,  in  the  county  of  Albany  and  province  of  New 
York,  representing  in  strong  terms  their  destitute  condition  with  regard  to 
the  gospel,  and  craving  that  the  Synod  (Burgher)  would  send  them  without 
delay  a  minister  to  break  among  them  the  bread  of  life,  at  the  same  time 
promising  to  give  the  person  who  should  be  sent  a  suitable  maintenance. 

The  Synod  having  taken  this  position  into  consideration,  as  well  as  the 
application  formerly  made  from  Philadelphia,  resolved  both  to  send  an  or- 
dained minister  and  a  preacher,  but  delayed  making  the  appointment  until 
the  month  of  November,  when  they  were  again  to  meet  for  the  dispatch  of 
business.  On  the  12th  of  November  the  Synod  appointed  Mr.  Telfair  to  go 
on  a  mission  to  America  early  in  the  spring,  and  agreed  to  send  with  him 
Samuel  Kinloch,  probationer.  They  were  to  remain  in  America  till  April, 
1767,  unless  the  Synod  should  see  fit  to  recall  or  extend  their  appointments. 
They  were  to  preach  not  only  at  Philadelphia  and  New  Cambridge,  but  in 
any  other  places  where  they  might  find  an  opening. 

In  May,  1767,  the  Synod  received  letters  from  the  congregations  in  Phila- 
delphia and  New  Cambridge,  expressing  their  warmest  thanks  for  the  bene- 
fits they  had  received  from  the  ministrations  of  Messrs.  Telfair  and  Kinloch, 
and  beseeching  that  the  Synod  would  either  permit  these  brethren  to  continue 
among  them,  or,  should  they  be  removed,  that  others  might  be  speedily  sent 
to  supply  their  places. 

In  the  spring  of  1  766  Messrs.  Telfair  and  Kinloch  arrived, 
and  the  former  took  charge  of  the  Burgher  congregation 
in  Shippen  Street,  Philadelphia,  while  the  latter  made  his 
headquarters  in  New  Cambridge,  now  Cambridge,  Wash- 
ington County,  N.  Y..  When  their  appointed  year  had  ex- 
pired they  concluded  to  remain  permanently  in  this  coun- 
try, and  made  application  to  the  Associate  Presbytery  of 
Pennsylvania  for  admission  to  its  membership.  A  meet- 
ing of  Presbytery  was  called,  to  meet  June  9,  1767,  at 
Pequea,  Pa.,  "that  steps  might  be  taken  for  making  the 
coalescence  between  this  Presbytery  and  Mr.  Telfair  and 


OPPOSITION  TO  UNION  WITH  BURGHERS.  169 


Mr.  Kinloch  complete."  The  minute  of  that  meeting  runs 
thus : 

They  proceeded  to  consider  the  terms  of  agreement  between  them  and  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Clarke,  of  Stillwater  in  the  county  of  Albany,  to  which,  with 
some  small  variation,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Telfair,  minister  of  the  gospel  in  Mon- 
teith  in  Scotland,  with  Mr.  S.  Kinloch,  probationer,  did  agree. 

This  action  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  Anti- Burgher 
Synod  in  Scotland,  where  the  necessities  of  the  case  could 
neither  be  understood  nor  appreciated,  and  where  the 
wounds  of  division  and  broken  friendships  still  existed; 
so  at  its  meeting  in  1770  this  coalescence  was  pointedly 
condemned,  and  three  ministers  were  appointed  as  new 
missionaries  to  America.  They  were  instructed  to  require 
the  Presbytery  to  "  annul  "  its  union  with  the  Burghers, 
and  to  "obliterate  their  minute"  respecting  it.  And  if 
the  Presbytery  should  refuse  to  do  this,  then  they  and  any 
of  the  brethren  that  chose  to  join  with  them  should  con- 
stitute themselves  into  a  new  Presbytery  and  hold  no  fel- 
lowship with  the  backsliders.  A  clear  indication  of  the 
feeling  and  temper  of  the  times.  John  Proudfoot,  James 
Ramsey,  and  John  Rodgers  were  appointed  to  this  mis- 
sion. The  first  two  declined,  and  John  Smith,  of  Stirl- 
ing, volunteered  to  go  with  Mr.  Rodgers.  They  sailed  in 
the  late  autumn,  and  on  the  4th  of  June,  1 7 7 1 ,  laid  their 
instructions  before  the  Presbytery  at  its  meeting  in 
Pequea,  Pa.  The  Presbytery  was  considerably  embarrassed 
to  know  what  to  do.  The  congregations  in  Salem,  Cam- 
bridge, and  Philadelphia  were  Burgher,  but  had  put  them- 
selves under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery.  All  the  other 
congregations  had  been  organized  under  Anti-Burgher 
auspices,  and  yet  they  all  contained  more  or  less  Burghers 
in  their  membership.  To  introduce  the  old-country  con- 
troversy into  the  Presbytery  would  be  sure  to  stir  up  strife 
and  division  everywhere.    Hence  in  the  first  term  of  union 


1 70 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  hi. 


with  the  three  Burgher  ministers  it  is  expressly  stipulated 
that  this  controversy  shall  be  buried ;  and  in  the  third  term, 
that  no  antagonistic  Burgher  Presbytery  should  ever  be 
organized. 

The  question  now  was  to  reconcile  obedience  to  the 
Synod  in  Scotland,  which,  without  understanding  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  case,  had  issued  a  peremptory  order,  and  to 
preserve  peace  among  themselves  and  prosper  their  work. 
The  Presbyterial  record  is  by  no  means  clear  and  definite, 
and  reads  thus: 

The  Presbytery  met  at  Mr.  Proudfoot's  house  in  the  evening  of  the  5th  of 
June,  and  constituted  with  prayer  tit  supra  sederunt  excepting  the  elder. 
They  entered  upon  the  consideration  of  the  instructions  given  by  the  Synod 
to  Messrs.  Rodgers  and  Smith,  and  after  long  reasoning  on  that  head,  and 
application  by  a  brother  to  the  throne  of  grace  for  direction,  they  find  that 
in  making  the  coalescence  with  the  Burgher  brethren  they  have  taken  some 
steps  inconsistent  with  their  subordination  to  the  Synod  to  which  they  have 
been  and  are  subordinate,  and  they  are  determined  that  for  the  future  they 
shall  have  no  ministerial  communion  with  them  until  they  lay  the  case  before 
the  Synod  and  receive  instructions  from  them.  But  they  do  not  judge  it  for 
edification,  in  their  present  peculiar  circumstances,  explicitly  to  comply  with 
the  Synod's  demand,  which  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  Pres- 
bytery. And  Mr.  Rodgers  and  Mr.  Smith,  recognizing  that  the  Synod's 
demand  was  materially  granted,  and  being  extremely  loath  to  pursue  any 
measures  that  might  impede  general  edification,  took  their  seats  in  the  Pres- 
bytery. 

In  other  words,  we  cannot  "  annul  "  and  "  obliterate  " 
what  is  past,  but  all  such  cases  in  the  future  shall  be  re- 
ferred first  to  the  Synod.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
the  facts.  Mr.  Kinloch  had  already,  in  1769,  returned  to 
Scotland,  and  was  now  pastor  of  the  Burgher  congrega- 
tion in  Paisley,  where  he  remained  for  many  years.  Mr. 
Telfair  had  also  returned  to  Scotland  and  resumed  his 
charge  at  the  Bridge  of  Teith,  and  actually  offered  infor- 
mation in  the  matter  to  the  Synod  in  1770,  and  they  re- 
fused to  hear  him.  So  Dr.  Clarke,  of  Salem,  was  the  only 
one  of  the  Burgher  ministers  left,  and  his  connection  with 


INCREASE  OF  MINISTERS. 


171 


the  Presbytery  was  never  disturbed  or  questioned.  Dr. 
Annan,  who  was  present  in  the  meeting  of  the  Presby- 
tery, makes  this  comment :  "  The  two  gentlemen  behaved 
prudently ;  they  did  not  insist  on  their  instructions,  and 
the  Presbytery,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  declared  against 
obeying  them."  This  ended  the  Burgher  controversy  in 
America,  and  the  Secession  Church  here  has  ever  since 
been  one ;  although  the  ministers  received  from  abroad 
were  all  from  the  Anti-Burgher  Church  up  to  the  events 
of  1782,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Associate  Church  in 
America  after  that  was  from  the  same  source.  When 
Burgher  ministers  began  to  immigrate,  after  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  was  closed,  they  connected  with  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church. 

Mr.  Smith  soon  settled  on  the  Octorara,  Mr.  Rodgers  at 
Big  Spring,  Cumberland  County.  In  1772  James  Clark- 
son  arrived,  and  settled  during  the  next  year  at  Muddy 
Creek,  York  County.  In  1773  William  Logan  came  and 
settled  at  Mexico,  Juniata  County,  and  John  Murray  at 
Marsh  Creek,  Adams  County.  Several  others  came  from 
Ireland.  David  Annan,  a  young  brother  of  Dr.  Robert, 
came  from  Scotland,  and  was  principally  educated  in  this 
country,  and  was  ordained  in  1778,  and  settled  at  Peter- 
borough, in  New  Hampshire.  The  increase  of  ministers 
and  the  great  inconvenience  of  their  meeting  together  in 
one  place  led  to  a  division  of  the  Presbytery,  and  those  in 
New  York  and  New  England  were  organized  on  the  20th 
of  May,  1776,  as  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  coordinate 
with  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,  and  subordinate  to 
the  Synod  of  Scotland. 

In  the  struggle  between  the  colonies  and  Great  Brit- 
ain all  the  ministers  of  the  Associate  and  the  Reformed 
churches  joined  heartily  with  the  former.  On  the  2d  of 
July,  1777,  Mr.  Cuthbertson  preached  to  a  large  congre- 


1 72 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  hi. 


gation  of  Covenanters,  from  Jeremiah  iv.  2,  and  then  led 
them  in  taking  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  struggling  col- 
onies ;  and  Drs.  Mason  and  Annan  were  particularly  for- 
ward in  the  exhibition  of  their  patriotism,  and  both  served 
for  a  time  as  chaplains  in  the  Continental  army.  The 
idea  very  soon  and  very  naturally  suggested  itself  to  these 
men,  that  if  political  independence  of  foreign  control  would 
be  a  good  thing,  ecclesiastical  independence  of  a  far-off 
power  would  not  be  a  bad  thing.  The  question  was  at 
once  started,  and  mainly  urged  by  Dr.  Annan,  whether 
both  branches  of  Scottish  Dissenters  in  this  country  could 
not  be  united  so  as  to  form  one  national  church  organiza- 
tion, independent  in  government  of  all  foreign  control — a 
free  church  in  a  free  state.  To  this  end  overtures  were 
made  to  the  Reformed  brethren,  and  kindly  entertained. 
The  first  conference  of  this  subject  was  held  September 
30,  1777,  in  Donegal,  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  and  others 
were  held  from  time  to  time  until  the  spring  of  1 780, 
when  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  New  York  adopted  cer- 
tain terms  previously  discussed,  which  were  sent  to  the 
other  presbyteries  for  concurrence.  The  Reformed  Pres- 
bytery, November  29,  1781,  adopted  the  same,  as  follows: 

1.  That  Jesus  Christ  died  for  the  elect. 

2.  That  there  is  an  appropriation  in  the  nature  of  faith. 

3.  That  the  gospel  is  addressed  indiscriminately  to  sinners  of  mankind. 

4.  That  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  the  alone  condition  of  the  covenant 
of  grace. 

5.  That  civil  government  originates  with  God,  the  Creator,  and  not  with 
Christ,  the  Mediator. 

6.  That  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  of  Providence  is  given  into  the 
hands  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator ;  and  magistry,  the  ordinance  appointed 
by  the  Moral  Governor  of  the  world,  to  be  the  prop  of  civil  order  among 
men  as  well  as  other  things,  is  rendered  subservient  by  the  Mediator  to  th£ 
welfare  of  his  spiritual  kingdom,  the  church,  and  has  the  sanctified  use  of  it 
and  of  every  common  benefit,  through  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

7.  That  the  law  of  nature  and  the  moral  law  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  are 
substantially  the  same,  although  the  latter  expresses  the  will  of  God  more 
evidently  and  clearly  than  the  former;  and  therefore  magistrates  among 


UNION  OF  COVENANTERS  AND  SECEDERS.       I  73 


Christians  ought  to  be  regulated  by  the  general  directory  of  the  Word  as  to 
the  execution  of  their  office. 

8.  That  the  qualifications  of  justice,  veracity,  etc.,  required  in  the  law  of 
nature  for  the  being  of  a  magistrate,  are  also  more  explicitly  revealed  as 
necessary  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  a  religious  test,  any  further  than  an 
oath  of  fidelity,  can  never  be  essentially  necessary  for  the  being  of  a  magis- 
trate, except  where  the  people  make  a  condition  of  government. 

9.  That  both  parties,  when  united,  shall  adhere  to  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  the  Directory  for  Worship,  and  propositions 
concerning  church  government. 

10.  That  they  shall  claim  the  full  exercise  of  church  discipline,  without 
dependence  upon  foreign  judicatories. 

These  propositions  had  been  formulated  in  1779,  at 
Pequea,  and  soon  afterward  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsyl- 
vania adopted  the  first  five  and  postponed  the  considera- 
tion of  the  others.  On  the  13th  of  June,  1782,  the  Presby- 
tery took  final  action,  and  as  a  substitute  for  the  remaining 
propositions  adopted  the  following,  which  was  regarded 
by  all  as  being  of  similar  import,  viz. : 

[.  Election,  redemption,  and  application  are  of  equal  extent,  and  for  the 
elect  alone. 

2.  Magistry  is  derived  from  God,  as  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the 
world,  and  the  profession  of  the  true  religion  is  not  essential  to  the  being  of 
civil  magistrates ;  and  whereas  protection  and  allegiance  are  reciprocal,  and 
as  the  United  States  of  America,  while  they  protect  us  in  life  and  property, 
at  the  same  time  do  not  impose  anything  sinful  on  us,  we  therefore  judge 
it  our  duty  to  acknowledge  the  government  of  these  States  in  all  lawful  com- 
mands ;  that  we  may  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty. 

3.  The  above  proposition  is  not  to  be  understood  to  contradict  that  propo- 
sition relative  to  civil  government,  in  which  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  New 
York  and  the  Reformed  Presbytery  have  agreed,  but  only  as  a  plain  and  un- 
disguised explication  of  one  point  of  truth,  in  which  we  have  the  best  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  whole  body  is  united. 

4.  As  no  opposition  in  sentiment  relative  to  the  important  duty  of  cove- 
nanting appears  on  either  side,  it  is  mutually  agreed  that  the  consideration 
of  it  be  referred  to  the  counsels  and  deliberations  of  the  whole  body. 

5.  Though  no  real  or  practical  subordination  of  the  Presbytery  to  the  Asso- 
ciate Synod  of  Edinburgh,  in  a  consistency  with  Presbyterian  government, 
can  be  pleaded,  yet,  from  the  most  wise  and  important  considerations,  the 
former  connections,  whatever  they  may  have  been,  shall  remain  as  before, 
notwithstanding  this  coalescence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  CHURCH  AFTER   1 782. 

THIS  basis  of  union  was  not  adopted  unanimously  by 
the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania  at  its  meeting 
in  June,  1782.  Mr.  Marshall,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr. 
Clarkson,  of  York  County,  ministers,  and  Messrs.  Robert 
Hunter,  James  Thompson,  and  Alexander  Moor,  ruling 
elders,  protested  against  it  and  appealed  to  the  Associate 
Synod  of  Scotland.  This  protest  was  at  first  admitted  by 
the  Presbytery,  but  on  a  review  of  it,  as  it  contained  an 
appeal,  it  was  refused  admittance  because  the  majority 
would  no  longer  acknowledge  their  subordination  to  any 
foreign  court.  The  protestors  then  withdrew,  and  elected 
a  new  moderator  and  clerk,  and  claimed  to  be  the  true 
and  original  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
ground  of  their  loyalty  to  the  faith  and  discipline  of  the 
Associate  Church.  Their  appeal  was  heard  by  the  Synod 
in  Scotland,  and  their  conduct  -was  approved,  and  new 
missionaries  were  sent  out  to  them  to  aid  in  rebuilding  the 
cause.  John  Anderson  arrived  in  1783,  Thomas  Beveridge 
in  1784,  David  Goodwillie  and  Archibald  Whyle  in  1788, 
John  Cree  and  David  Somerville  in  1790,  Robert  Laing 
in  1795,  John  Banks  in  1796.  In  1789  Mr.  Henderson 
returned  to  them  from  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
and  Mr.  Smith  in  1795. 

In  the  summer  of  1  784  the  Presbytery  resolved  to  pre- 
pare a  "  Testimony  "  suited  to  their  circumstances  in  this 
country,  and  appointed  Messrs.  Anderson  and  Beveridge 

174 


TESTIMONY— CO  VENA NTING. 


175 


to  draft  it.  A  "  Narrative  "  and  "  Testimony  "  were  pre- 
pared, principally  by  Mr.  Beveridge,  and  enacted  and  pub- 
lished the  same  year.  The  subordination  of  the  Presbytery 
to  the  Synod  in  Scotland  was  found  at  once  to  be  incon- 
venient and  disadvantageous.  It  was  too  far  away,  too 
difficult  of  access,  and  too  ignorant  of  local  surroundings 
and  emergencies.  So  the  Presbytery  adopted  the  "  Testi- 
mony "  without  consulting  the  Synod.  For  this  independ- 
ent action  considerable  dissatisfaction  was  expressed,  and 
an  act  was  adopted  in  1  786  by  the  Synod  upon  the  subject ; 
but,  realizing  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way,  it  claimed 
very  little  more  than  what  might  be  called  brotherly  over- 
sight which  one  church  might  exercise  over  another.  The 
subordination  of  the  Presbytery  to  the  Synod  in  Scotland 
was  never  of  any  practical  importance,  and  soon  became 
virtually  a  dead  letter. 

In  1 791  the  Presbytery  passed  an  act  respecting  public 
covenanting,  in  which  it  was  claimed  that  the  obligations 
of  the  Scottish  Covenants  descended  to  the  posterity  of 
those  that  joined  in  them.  This  act  was  afterward  incor- 
porated in  the  "  Testimony,"  and  so  remained  as  an  organic 
feature  of  the  church,  and  in  1792  the  members  of  the 
Presbytery  engaged  in  the  duty  of  covenanting  in  con- 
nection with  the  congregation  in  New  York.  And  when 
the  Presbytery  had  grown  into  a  Synod,  it,  at  Pittsburg 
in  1829,  and  again  in  Philadelphia  in  1830,  also  engaged 
in  public  solemn  covenanting.  One  great  design  of  the 
Synod  in  doing  this  was  to  encourage  their  congregations 
to  follow  their  example.  How  far  this  design  was  success- 
ful there  are  no  means  of  ascertaining,  but  it  is  believed 
that  at  different  times  this  ordinance  has  been  observed  in 
a  majority  of  the  oldest  and  largest  congregations  of  the 
church. 

In  1 796  the  Presbytery  passed  an  act  against  occasional 


1 76 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  iv. 


communion,  which  ever  afterward  remained  the  law  of 
the  church.  Feeling;  that  the  supply  of  ministers  from 
abroad  was  inadequate  to  their  wants,  the  Presbytery  took 
measures  to  encourage  young  men  to  seek  the  ministry, 
and,  as  an  aid  thereto,  they  elected,  April  21,  1794,  Dr. 
John  Anderson,  of  Service,  Beaver  County,  Pa.,  their  pro- 
fessor of  theology,  and  erected  a  two-story  building  as  a 
dormitory  for  the  students.  He  continued  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  his  office  as  sole  professor  until  1819,  when 
the  infirmities  of  age  compelled  him  to  resign. 

In  answer  to  an  application  made  by  sundry  individuals 
in  the  State  of  Kentucky  to  the  General  Associate  Synod 
of  Scotland,  Andrew  Fulton  and  Robert  Armstrong  were 
sent  out  as  missionaries  in  the  autumn  of  1797,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1  798  arrived  at  their  field  of  labor.  After  sur- 
veying their  ground  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  they  or- 
ganized themselves,  according  to  synodic  direction,  into  a 
Presbytery,  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Kentucky,  Novem- 
ber 28,  1798,  coordinate  with  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  subordinate  to  the  Associate  Synod  of  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland. 

In  consequence  of  the  scattered  condition  of  the  congre- 
gations and  ministers  of  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania, 
they  could  rarely  meet  oftener  than  once  a  year,  and  not 
all  of  them  even  then ;  so  most  of  the  ordinary  business 
was  transacted  at  what  were  called  interim  meetings,  where 
two  or  three  neighboring  ministers  with  their  elders  were 
allowed  to  meet  at  their  convenience  and  attend  to  local 
business.  This  arrangement  was  not  exactly  Presbyterian, 
and  did  not  give  complete  satisfaction,  and  the  Presbytery 
at  its  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  May  1,  1800, 

Resolved,  That  this  Presbytery  will,  if  the  Lord  permit,  constitute  them- 
selves into  a  Synod,  or  Court  of  Review,  known  and  designated  by  the  name 
of  the  Associate  Synod  of  North  America,  at  next  ordinary  meeting,  which  is 


S  YNOD  ORGANIZED— SLA  VER  Y. 


177 


appointed  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  the  third  Wednesday  of  May,  1801,  at 
eleven  o'clock;  that  Mr.  Marshall  open  the  meeting  with  a  sermon,  and 
then  constitute  the  Synod,  the  rest  of  the  day  to  be  employed  in  solemn 
prayer  and  fasting,  Mr.  J.  Smith  to  pray  first,  and  then  Mr.  Clarkson, 
Mr.  Pringle  to  close. 

The  Presbytery  of  Kentucky  agreed  to  cooperate  in  this 
movement. 

The  Synod  met  May  2,  1801,  in  Philadelphia,  and  was 
opened  and  constituted  as  arranged,  and  John  Smith  was 
elected  moderator  and  Francis  Pringle  stated  clerk.  The 
Synod  was  divided  into  the  four  Presbyteries  of  Cam- 
bridge, Philadelphia,  Chartiers,  and  Kentucky.  The  Synod 
enacted,  "  That  none  be  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel,  or 
ordained  to  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry  among  us,  but 
such  as  have  sworn  the  Covenant  engagements  entered 
into  in  the  Secession  Church,  or  declare  their  readiness  to 
do  so  when  opportunity  offers,  and  subscribe  said  declara- 
tion." This  remained  the  law  of  the  church  for  many 
years,  and  was  never  repealed,  although  it  finally  became 
inoperative  through  neglect.  Ministers  continued  to  ar- 
rive from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  others  were  educated 
at  the  seminary  at  Service,  and  the  church  grew  slowly 
but  steadily,  and  new  Presbyteries  were  erected  from  time 
to  time  as  needed.  The  territorial  extent  of  the  church 
became  so  great  that  the  question  of  dividing  into  sub- 
synods  was  twice  submitted  to  the  church  in  overture,  and 
both  times  rejected. 

Messrs.  Fulton  and  Armstrong  had  not  been  two  years 
in  Kentucky  until  they  felt  painfully  the  evil  of  slave- 
holding,  and  applied  to  the  Synod  to  issue  a  warning  in 
reference  to  it.  The  Synod  complied  with  the  request, 
and  pronounced  slaveholding  a  moral  evil,  and  urged  the 
necessity  of  fully  instructing  the  people  in  reference  to  its 
nature.    This  the  brethren  in  Kentucky  tried  faithfully 


178  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap,  i v. 


to  do,  but  with  very  little  apparent  success,  and  those  of 
antislavery  views  began  to  move  north  of  the  Ohio  River. 
Finally,  in  18 15,  Mr.  Fulton  followed  with  the  remaining 
part  of  his  congregation  to  Jefferson  County,  Ind.,  and  Mr. 
Armstrong  took  his  to  Greene  County,  0.  This  solved 
the  question  pretty  thoroughly  as  far  as  Kentucky  was 
concerned;  but  sundry  congregations  had  been  organized 
farther  south,  and  the  Presbytery  of  the  Carolinas  had 
been  erected  in  1803.  The  difficulty  continued,  but  the 
location  was  changed.  There  were  congregations  in  the 
States  of  Tennessee,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina, 
and  they  were  involving  themselves  more  and  more  with 
slavery.  Some  of  the  people  in  Greene  County,  O.,  who 
had  removed  from  Kentucky,  petitioned  the  Synod  in 
1808  to  exclude  slaveholders  from  the  communion  of  the 
church.  This  led  to  the  adoption  of  an  act  in  181 1  which 
declared  it  to  be  a  moral  evil  to  hold  negroes  in  bondage, 
and  directed  the  members  of  the  church  to  set  them  at 
liberty,  or,  if  this  could  not  be  done  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  State,  to  treat  them  as  if  free  in  respect  to  food, 
clothing,  instruction,  and  wages.  It  was  also  enacted  that 
those  who  refused  to  comply  with  these  directions  were 
unworthy  of  the  fellowship  of  the  church.  The  provisions 
of  this  act  were  not  complied  with,  and  the  subject  kept 
troubling  the  Synod  from  time  to  time  until  1831,  when 
a  more  stringent  act  was  passed,  by  which  all  slaveholders 
were  forthwith  excluded  from  communion.  This  act  was 
regarded  by  a  very  respectable  minority  of  the  Synod  as 
harsh  and  severe,  and  practically  accomplished  nothing.  In 
1840  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  congregations  of  the 
South,  in  which  allowance  was  made  for  those  who  could 
not  emancipate  their  slaves,  provided  they  would  agree  to 
what  was  called  moral  emancipation.  The  moderator,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  S.  Kendall,  was  sent  as  a  commissioner  from 


SYMPATHY  WITH  PROFESSOR  PAX  TON.  I  79 


Synod  to  read  this  letter  to  the  congregations ;  but  instead 
of  conciliating  the  feelings  of  those  holding  slaves,  a  riot 
was  excited  in  one  of  the  congregations  in  South  Carolina, 
and  while  he  was  engaged  in  the  public  worship  they  seized 
him,  and  by  an  act  of  lynch  law  expelled  him  from  the 
State.  This  brought  on  a  crisis,  and  the  Presbytery  of 
the  Carolinas  declared  itself  independent  of  the  Synod. 
Many  of  the  ministers  moved  north,  and  a  large  part  of 
the  members,  preferring  their  church  to  slavery,  passed  to 
north  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  planted  new  congregations 
and  strengthened  old  ones  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Iowa.  The  church  was  thus  completely  and  permanently 
purged  of  the  sin  of  slavery. 

The  Synod  did  not  have  any  fixed  and  definite  rules  of 
discipline,  but  followed  custom  and  tradition  until  181 7, 
when  the  first  Book  of  Discipline  was  adopted.  It  con- 
tained a  chapter  on  "  censurable  offenses,''  among  which 
were  enumerated  profaning  the  Sabbath,  the  use  of  spirit- 
uous liquors,  profaning  the  name  of  God  in  common  con- 
versation, the  abuse  of  lots,  the  use  of  charms,  the  diver- 
sions of  the  stage,  and  promiscuous  dancing. 

In  1820  the  two  branches  of  the  Secession  in  Scotland 
united  and  formed  the  United  Secession  Church.  Against 
this  union  Professor  Paxton  and  eight  other  ministers  of 
the  Anti-Burghers  protested,  and  refused  to  enter.  Pre- 
vious to  this,  in  1806,  when  the  Anti-Burgher  Synod 
adopted  a  "  New  Testimony,"  Dr.  McCree  and  four  others 
left  that  church  and  constituted  themselves  as  the  Consti- 
tutional Presbytery.  In  1827  Professor  Paxton's  party 
united  with  this  Presbytery  and  formed  the  Synod  of 
Original  Seceders.  The  Synod  in  this  country  was  very 
much  excited  over  the  union  of  1820,  because  of  their 
intimate  relation  to  one  of  the  contracting  parties,  and 
debated  the  matter  year  after  year  until  1826,  when,  by 


i8o 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  nr. 


the  casting  vote  of  the  moderator,  they  condemned  the 
"  said  union,  as  a  defection  from  a  covenanted  reforma- 
tion," and  at  the  next  meeting  resolved  to  continue  in 
union  with  the  Protestors,  and  in  1832  with  the  Original 
Seceders.  In  1852  the  Original  Seceders  united  with  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  which  threw  the  Synod  in  this 
country  out  of  union  with  any  Scottish  organization ;  and 
as  the  churches  in  the  two  countries  had  gradually  grown 
somewhat  apart,  no  further  union  was  ever  sought.  The 
Secession  Churches  in  Scotland  became  a  little  more  kindly 
in  feeling  and  liberal  in  opinion  as  time  passed  on,  while 
the  Synod  in  America  retained  substantially  its  original 
conservatism. 

The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  West  in  1820, 
one  year  after  its  organization  as  an  independent  Synod, 
asked  the  Associate  Synod  for  a  conference  on  the  subject 
of  a  union  of  the  two  Synods.  The  request  was  granted, 
and  conferees  were  appointed  by  both  bodies.  They  met 
and  agreed  upon  a  basis  of  six  short  articles,  but  the  As- 
sociate Synod  failed  to  confirm  the  terms,  and  the  whole 
matter  fell  through.  The  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Scot- 
tish Covenants  seemed  to  present  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  union.  But  the  real  difficulty  arose  from  the 
fact  that  the  Synods  were  a  little  shy  of  each  other,  and 
while  they  felt  their  oneness  and  realized  the  duty  of 
union,  they  did  not  have  that  full  and  generous  confidence 
in  each  other  which  might  be  necessary  for  a  hearty  union. 
Old  sores  are  hard  to  heal. 

In  1 84 1  a  difficulty  of  ten  years'  growth  finally  termi- 
nated in  a  schism,  and  an  independent  Synod,  under  the 
leadership  of  Alexander  Bullions,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Andrew 
Stark,  LL.D.,  was  organized.  But  time  mollified  feelings, 
and  in  1854  a  happy  reunion  was  consummated.  A 
minute  history  of  its  causes  and  successive  steps  is  not 


REFORMED  DISSENTING  PRESBYTERY.  l8l 


necessary  in  this  place.  The  controversy  involved  some 
important  principles  in  church  government,  and  of  sub- 
mission to  lawful  authority,  even  when  not  lovingly  ad- 
ministered. But  no  doctrine  of  grace  or  distinctive  prin- 
ciple of  the  church  was  ever  brought  into  question.  It  is 
also  a  pleasure  for  the  historian  to  be  able  to  state  that  all 
the  prominent  actors  on  both  sides  were  good  men,  and 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  set  the  seal  of  his  approval  most  un- 
equivocally upon  the  general  work  of  their  lives.  The 
treasure,  however,  was  in  earthen  vessels,  and,  like  Moses 
and  David  and  Peter,  these  men  had  their  infirmities  and 
weaknesses ;  but  "  he  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let 
him  first  cast  a  stone." 

In  1799  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  adopted  its 
"  Constitution  and  Standards,"  and  it  modified  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  "  concerning 
the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  matters  of  religion." 
Against  this  action  Rev.  Alexander  McCoy  and  Rev. 
Robert  Warwick  protested  and  withdrew,  and,  January, 
1 80 1,  organized  an  independent  Presbytery,  which  they 
named  the  Reformed  Dissenting  Presbytery.  It  was  con- 
fined to  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  in  185 1  united 
with  the  Associate  Synod. 

In  1840  the  Synod  passed  an  act  respecting  the  traffic 
in  ardent  spirits,  "  advising  that  no  member  of  the  church 
retail  them  for  ordinary  use,  and  that  sessions  deal  with 
such  members  of  the  church  as  may  be  engaged  in  such 
traffic,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  desist,  and  that  all 
members  of  the  church  refuse  any  encouragement  to  those 
who  follow  such  an  employment."  In  1843  further  action 
was  taken  on  this  subject,  and  it  was  unanimously  resolved 
"  that  church  sessions  be  directed  to  deal  with  such  mem- 
bers of  the  church  as  are  found  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
or  vending  of  ardent  spirits  under  such  circumstances  as 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  iv. 


are  calculated  to  bring  a  reproach  upon  their  profession, 
and  thus  constitute  an  offense  in  the  Scriptural  sense  of 
the  term,  and  that  such  persons  be  required  to  abandon 
it."  And  in  1857  it  was  further  declared,  "that,  in  the 
judgment  of  this  Synod,  the  manufacturing  or  vending  of 
intoxicating  liquors,  for  the  purpose  of  being  used  as  a 
common  beverage,  is  a  censurable  offense." 

The  Associate  Synod  in  Scotland  at  an  early  period  of 
its  existence  condemned  the  masonic  oath  as  sinful,  both 
as  to  its  matter  and  form,  and  warned  all  its  members 
against  any  connection  with  masonic,  lodges.  This  was 
received  as  part  of  the  church's  inherited  faith  in  this 
country,  and  all  freemasons  have  been  carefully  excluded 
from  the  communion  of  the  Associate  Church.  At  the 
time  of  the  Morgan  abduction  the  Synod  in  this  country 
repeated  the  warning  against  masonry ;  and  in  1 846  it  was 
further  declared  "  that  we  regard  connection  with  the 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  the  same  light  as  with  free- 
masons, and  equally  deserving  the  censure  of  the  church." 
A  warning  was  also  issued  at  this  time  against  connec- 
tion with  the  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  because 
of  their  vain  parades  at  funerals  and  processions,  their 
secrecy,  the  danger  of  such  societies  to  the  community, 
and  the  countenance  which  they  give  to  other  societies  of 
a  worse  character. 

In  1 842  the  Synod  entered  upon  the  foreign  missionary 
work,  and  selected  the  island  of  Trinidad  as  the  field  of 
labor.  From  various  causes  the  enterprise  did  not  prove 
a  success,  and  they  passed  over  their  mission  to  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland  and  withdrew.  They  then  turned  to 
India,  and  located  at  Sialkot,  where  they  were  greatly 
blessed,  and  the  field  and  work  have  widened  and  prospered 
ever  since. 

Secession  churches  are  under  a  constitutional  necessity 


PSALMOD  Y— UNION. 


183 


of  being  witnessing  and  testimony-bearing  churches,  so  as 
to  exhibit  and  illustrate  the  ground  of  their  independent 
existence,  and  their  right  to  exist.  The  Associate  Synod 
was  always  true  to  its  ecclesiastical  parentage,  ready  to 
give  a  reason  for  its  faith,  and  outspoken  in  its  defense  of 
the  truth  as  it  saw  the  truth.  It  had  convictions,  clear 
convictions,  and  courage  to  maintain  them.  It  testified 
freely  upon  different  occasions  against  prevailing  evils  as 
they  exhibited  themselves  in  church,  state,  and  society. 

The  Associate  Church  always  enjoined  the  exclusive  use 
of  the  inspired  Psalter  in  all  formal  praise  services.  The 
Scotch  version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  came  with  the  church 
to  this  country,  and  ever  remained  in -use,  both  because  of 
personal  attachment  to  it  from  long  familiarity  and  tender 
associations,  and  also  because  it  was  the  most  accurate 
versification  of  the  original  to  be  had.  But  with  the  in- 
creasing culture  of  the  times  and  improvement  in  song 
there  came  a  felt  necessity  for  something  better,  and  under 
the  direction  of  Synod  Dr.  Beveridge  and  others  devoted 
much  time  and  study  to  the  accomplishment  of  something 
in  this  direction.  Some  progress  was  made  when  the  union 
which  absorbed  the  Synod  passed  this  matter  over  to  the 
new  church  organization. 

The  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  1842  made  over- 
tures to  the  Associate  Church  for  an  organic  union.  After 
fourteen  years  of  negotiation,  the  latter,  in  1856,  tendered 
to  the  former  a  basis  of  union,  which  was  adopted  in  1857, 
and  a  union  was  consummated  in  May,  1858,  which  formed 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America.  The 
Associate  Church  contributed  to  the  new  organization  230 
ministers,  about  300  congregations,  and  25,000  communi- 
cants. Eleven  ministers  and  a  few  small  congregations 
refused  to  enter  the  union,  and  have  perpetuated  a  resid- 
uary church,  which  has  not  increased  much. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

As  already  stated,  conferences  upon  the  subject  of  an 
organic  union  of  the  Reformed  and  Associate  Presbyteries 
in  America  began  in  1777,  and  continued  for  several  years. 
A  basis  of  union  which  was  formulated  in  1779,  at  Pequea, 
Pa.,  was  unanimously  adopted  in  the  spring  of  1780  by 
the  Associate  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  by  the  Re- 
formed Presbytery,  November  29,  1781,  and  by  a  majority 
of  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,  June  13, 
1782.1  The  three  presbyteries  met  in  convention  in  Phil- 
adelphia, on  Wednesday,  October  30,  1782,  for  the  con- 
summation of  the  union  and  the  organization  of  the  As- 
sociate Reformed  Church.  They  adopted  eight  articles 
for  the  guidance  of  the  Synod  which  they  designed  to 
organize. 

On  Thursday,  the  31st  of  October,  1782,  the  Synod  of 
the  Associate  Reformed  Church  was  formally  organized 
by  the  election  of  John  Mason,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  as 
moderator.  The  presbyteries  were  rearranged,  so  that 
the  ministers  and  congregations  in  eastern  Pennsylvania 
constituted  The  First  Presbytery ;  those  in  western  Penn- 
sylvania, The  Second  Presbytery;  and  those  in  New  York 
and  New  England,  The  TJiird  Presbytery.  The  most  im- 
portant business  in  which  the  Synod  engaged  was  the 
consideration  of  the  eight  articles  agreed  upon  by  the 
convention  which  preceded  the  Synod.    These  were  again 

1  See  pp.  172,  173. 
184 


DISPLAY  OF  PRINCIPLES. 


185 


discussed  seriatim,  "  and  after  serious  deliberation  and 
solemn  prayer"  were  unanimously  adopted  "as  proper 
to  display  the  principles  upon  which  we  intend  to  act." 
These  articles  were  as  follows : 

I.  It  is  the  resolution  of  this  Synod  to  persevere  in  adhering  to  the  system 
of  truth  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  exhibited  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  and  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
gospel  worship  and  ecclesiastical  government  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly 
of  Divines  at  Westminster,  with  the  assistance  of  commissioners  from  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  This  declaration,  however,  does  not  extend  to  the 
following  sections  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  which  define  the  power  of  civil 
government  in  relation  to  religion :  chap.  xx.  sec.  4,  chap,  xxiii.  sec.  3,  chap, 
xxxi.  sec.  2.  These  sections  are  reserved  for  a  candid  discussion  on  some 
future  occasion  as  God  shall  be  pleased  to  direct.  Nor  is  it  to  be  construed 
as  a  resignation  of  our  rights  to  adjust  the  circumstances  of  public  worship 
and  ecclesiastical  policy  to  the  station  in  which  Divine  Providence  may  place 
us.  All  the  members  of  the  Synod  acknowledge  in  the  meanwhile  that  they 
are  under  the  most  sacred  obligations  to  avoid  unnecessary  criticism  upon 
any  of  these  excellent  treatises,  which  would  have  a  native  tendency  to 
weaken  their  attachment  to  the  truths  therein  contained.  If  any  of  the 
members  of  the  Synod  shall  conceive  any  scruples  at  any  article  or  articles 
of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  Directory  of  Worship,  or  Form  of 
Presbyterian  Church  Government,  or  shall  think  they  have  sufficient  reason 
to  make  objections  thereto,  they  shall  have  full  liberty  to  communicate  their 
scruples  or  objections  to  their  brethren,  who  shall  consider  them  with  im- 
partiality, meekness,  and  patience,  and  endeavor  to  remove  them  by  calm, 
dispassionate  reasoning.  No  kind  of  censure  shall  be  inflicted  in  cases  of 
this  nature,  unless  those  scrupling  and  objecting  brethren  shall  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  church  by  publishing  their  opinions  to  the  people,  or  by  urging 
them  in  judicatories  with  irritating  and  schismatic  zeal. 

II.  The  ministers  and  elders  in  Synod  assembled  also  declare  their  hearty 
approbation  of  the  earnest  contendings  for  the  faith  and  magnanimous  suffer- 
ings in  its  defense  by  which  our  pious  ancestors  were  enabled  to  distinguish 
themselves  in  the  last  two  centuries ;  that  they  have  an  affectionate  remem- 
brance of  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland,  and  of  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant  of  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland,  as  well-intended  engagements 
to  support  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  hold  themselves  bound 
by  divine  authority  to  practice  all  the  moral  duties  therein  contained,  accord- 
ing to  their  circumstances  ;  that  public  and  explicit  covenanting  with  God  is 
a  mpral  duty  under  the  gospel  dispensation,  to  which  they  are  resolved  to 
attend  as  he  shall  be  pleased  to  direct ;  that  it  is  their  real  intention  to  carry 
with  them  all  the  judicial  testimonies  against  defections  from  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints  which  have  been  emitted  in  the  present  age  by  their 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  v. 


brethren  in  Scotland,  as  far  as  these  testimonies  serve  to  display  the  truth 
and  comport  with  the  circumstances  of  our  church ;  and  that  they  will  avail 
themselves  of  every  call  to  bear  appointed  testimony  against  the  errors  and 
delusions  which  prevail  in  this  country. 

III.  The  members  of  Synod  also  acknowledge  with  gratitude  that  they 
are  bound  to  honor  the  religious  denominations  in  Britain  to  which  they 
belonged,  on  account  of  their  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the  gospel,  and  of  those 
laudable  efforts  to  promote  it,  not  only  in  Britain  and  Ireland  but  also  in 
America,  and  they  profess  an  unfeigned  desire  to  hold  an  amicable  corre- 
spondence with  all  or  any  of  them,  and  to  concur  with  them  in  every  just  and 
eligible  measure  for  promoting  true  and  undefiled  religion. 

IV.  It  is  also  the  resolution  of  this  Synod  never  to  introduce,  nor  suffer 
to  be  introduced,  in  their  church  the  local  controversy  about  the  civil  estab- 
lishment of  the  Presbyterian  religion,  and  the  religious  clause  of  some 
burgess  oaths  in  Scotland,  or  any  unnecessary  disputes  about  the  origin  of 
civil  dominion,  and  the  requisites  for  rendering  it  legal  in  circumstances 
dissimilar  to  those  in  which  themselves  are  placed.  They  esteem  themselves 
bound  to  detach  their  religious  profession  from  all  foreign  connections,  and 
to  honor  the  civil  powers  of  America,  conscientiously  submitting  to  them  in 
all  their  lawful  operations. 

V.  That  the  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  censures  may  be  effectually  prevented, 
the  following  General  Rule  of  Discipline  is  unanimously  adopted,  namely : 
That  notorious  violations  of  the  law  of  God,  and  such  errors  in  doctrine  as 
unhinge  the  Christian  profession,  shall  be  the  only  scandals  for  which  deposi- 
tion and  excommunication  shall  be  passed,  and  that  the  highest  censures  of 
other  offenders  shall  be  a  dissolution  of  the  connection  between  the  Synod 
and  the  offender. 

VI.  The  terms  of  admission  to  fixed  communion  with  the  Synod  shall  be 
soundness  in  faith  as  defined  in  the  above-mentioned  Confession  and  Cate- 
chisms, submission  to  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  church,  and  a 
holy  conversation. 

VII.  The  members  of  Synod  also  acknowledge  it  to  be  their  duty  to  treat 
pious  persons  of  other  denominations  with  great  affection  and  tenderness. 
They  are  willing,  as  God  affordeth  opportunity,  to  extend  communion  to  all 
who  in  every  place  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  conformity  to  his 
will.  But  as  occasional  communion  in  a  divided  state  of  the  church  may 
produce  great  disorders,  if  it  be  not  conducted  with  much  wisdom  and 
moderation,  they  esteem  themselves,  and  the  people  under  their  inspection, 
inviolably  bound  in  all  ordinary  cases  to  submit  to  every  restriction  of  their 
liberty  w  hich  general  edification  renders  necessary.  This  article,  however, 
is  not  to  be  construed  as  a  license  to  encourage  vagrant  preachers  who  go 
about  under  pretense  of  extraordinary  zeal  and  devotion,  and  are  not  subject 
to  the  government  and  discipline  of  any  regular  church. 

VIII.  As  the  principles  of  the  Synod  are  detached  from  the  local  pecul- 
iarities by  which  the  most  considerable  parts  of  Presbyterians  have  been 


FORMULATING  STANDARDS. 


I87 


hitherto  distinguished,  it  is  further  agreed  to  reject  all  such  applications  for 
admission  to  fixed  communion  with  the  Synod  that  may  at  any  time  be  made 
by  persons  belonging  to  other  denominations  of  Presbyterians,  as  evidently 
arise  from  caprice,  personal  prejudice,  or  any  other  schismatical  principles, 
and  that  the  only  admissible  application  shall  be  such  as  shall,  upon  deliber- 
ate examination,  be  found  to  arise  from  a  solid  conviction  of  duty,  and  to 
discover  Christian  meekness  toward  the  party  whose  communion  is  relin- 
quished, or  such  as  are  made  by  considerable  bodies  of  people  who  are  not 
only  destitute  of  a  fixed  gospel  ministry,  but  cannot  reasonably  be  provided 
for  by  the  denomination  of  Presbyterians  to  which  they  belong.  It  is,  how- 
ever, thought  proper  that  applications  of  the  last  kind  shall  not  be  admitted 
till  the  bodies  by  whom  they  are  admitted  shall  previously  inform  the  judi- 
catories which  have  the  immediate  inspection  of  them  of  the  reasons  of  their 
intended  application,  and  shall  use  all  due  means  to  obtain  the  concurrence 
of  that  judicatory. 

These  articles,  originally  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  John 
Mason,  were  subsequently  revised  and  slightly  amended 
and  published  under  the  unsuitable  title  of  "  The  Consti- 
tution of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church."  They  were 
popularly  known  as  the  "  Little  Constitution." 

A  committee  was  appointed  "  to  prepare  and  publish, 
as  soon  as  possible,  a  concise  narrative  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  union  between  the  Associate  and  Reformed 
Presbyteries,  and  the  grounds  on  which  they  have  erected 
themselves  into  a  Synod,  together  with  an  illustration  of 
our  constitutional  principles  as  they  may  judge  necessary." 
This  was  after  the  example  of  all  the  dissenting  churches 
in  Scotland ;  they  prefaced  their  "  Testimony "  with  a 
"  Narrative,"  in  which  they  gave  an  historical  defense  of 
their  right  to  exist.  But  the  ministers  of  the  Synod, 
although  educated  in  Scotland,  soon  felt  the  influence  of 
their  new  surroundings,  and  realized  the  change  in  the 
character  of  their  fields  of  labor.  They  grew  to  doubt  the 
necessity  or  propriety  of  such  a  document  in  a  free  country 
where  there  was  no  Church  Establishment  to  claim  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  means  of  grace.  They  felt  that  their  patent 
was  from  heaven,  and  that  wherever  there  were  saints  to 


i88 


THE  UXITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  v. 


be  edified  and  sinners  to  be  saved,  there  they  had  a  mis- 
sion. The  committee  never  reported,  and  the  church  never 
cumbered  its  official  literature  with  an  apology  for  its  ex- 
istence. 

In  1787  Drs.  Mason,  Annan,  and  Smith  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  bring  in  "An  Overture  for  Illustrating  and 
Defending  the  Doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith."  Two  years  afterward  a  long  report  was  submitted, 
in  the  form  of  a  commentary  upon  the  different  chapters 
of  the  Confession.  It  was  discussed  at  great  length  at  the 
meeting  in  1  789,  and  then  postponed  and  further  considered 
at  the  meeting  in  1790,  when,  instead  of  a  formal  adoption, 
it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  it  is  "  in  substance  an 
excellent  and  instructive  illustration  and  application  of 
these  truths  unto  the  present  state  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  America,"  and  warmly  recommended  it  as  such  to  all  the 
people  under  their  inspection. 

The  standards  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  were 
not  a  birth,  but  a  growth.  Those  that  organized  it  had 
confidence  in  each  other,  and  united  upon  the  simple  basis 
of  the  Westminster  Standards,  which  belonged  equally  to 
both  sides,  and  left  time  and  experience  to  decide  whether 
anything  should  be  added,  and,  if  so,  what.  One  of  the 
objects  of  her  founders,  and  by  no  means  a  small  one,  was 
to  establish  an  American  Church  holding  the  theology  of 
the  more  conservative  churches  in  Scotland :  American  in 
the  twofold  sense  of  being  independent  of  all  foreign  judi- 
catories— a  free  church  in  a  free  state — and  also  in  being 
denuded  and  freed  from  all  peculiarities  of  alien  origin  and 
suitableness.  They  did  not  wish  to  transplant  an  exotic 
whose  special  characteristics  showed  its  foreign  birth  and 
relations,  and  which  might  not  be  adapted  to  the  soil  and 
climate ;  but  to  build  a  home  church,  unencumbered  with 
any  historical  traditions,  which  could  and  would  adapt 


FORMULATING  STANDARDS.  1 89 

itself  to  the  peculiarities  and  exigencies  of  its  surroundings. 
Hence  they  agreed  upon  the  dogmas  of  the  new  organi- 
zation, and  said  nothing  about  the  special  modes  of  their 
exhibition.  The  Reformed  and  the  Associate  Churches 
had  Covenant  bonds,  and  made  assent  to  them  a  term  of 
communion;  they  had  also  a  "Judicial  Testimony"  of 
equal  binding  obligation  with  the  Confession  of  Faith. 
The  Associate  Reformed  Church  started  without  either  of 
these.  This  was  not  an  inadvertence  or  oversight,  but  a 
deliberate  conviction  of  duty,  and  for  which  they  were 
severely  censured  by  those  next  of  kin  in  Great  Britain 
and  America. 

The  new  church  had  to  fight  for  her  existence,  and  the 
result  of  this  contest  had  much  to  do  in  giving  shape  and 
character  to  her  forming  Standards.  She  was  charged  with 
"  burying  the  Covenants,"  and  "  neglecting  to  insist  on  their 
binding  obligation  upon  posterity."  To  this  the  Synod 
replied  to  the  Second  Presbytery  of  the  Carolinas : 

The  omission  in  our  Constitution  of  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland 
and  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  cannot  wound  the  most  tender  con- 
science when  rightly  informed.  It  is  not  possible,  consistently  with  truth, 
to  make  these  Covenants,  as  they  stand,  a  part  of  the  church's  "  Testimony  " 
in  America ;  and  therefore  the  insertion  of  them  among  her  terms  of  commun- 
ion, instead  of  promoting  the  edification  of  her  members,  would  only  serve 
as  a  snare  for  their  consciences.  To  be  applicable  to  the  circumstances  of 
this  church  they  must  undergo  a  variety  of  alterations  ;  but  the  moment  any 
alteration  is  admitted  into  an  instrument  of  solemn  compact  it  ceases  to 
be  the  same  instrument.  To  modify  the  covenants,  therefore,  is  to  destroy 
them ;  they  instantly  cease  to  be  the  same  covenants,  and  the  persons  who 
take  them  thus  modified,  instead  of  renewing  them,  do,  in  fact,  enter  into  a 
new  compact,  and  by  that  very  act  resort  to  the  original  principle  of  cove- 
nanting. 

The  Original  Seceders,  the  successors  of  McCree  and 
Paxton,  and  the  most  conservative  body  in  Scotland,  de- 
clared at  their  union  with  the  Free  Church  in  1852  : 

In  fine,  looking  upon  society  as  possessed  of  permanent  identity  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  on  each  succeeding  age  as  bound  to  implement  the  unexhausted 


190  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chap.  v. 

obligations  contracted  by  national  oaths,  we  believe  that  the  covenants  of 
our  ancestors  .  .  .  are  still  binding,  and  that  by  them,  we,  as  a  nation, 
are  laid  under  additional  obligation  to  maintain  the  principles  and  the  cause 
of  the  Reformation. 

This  was  precisely  the  position  taken  by  the  Associate 
Reformed  fathers  seventy  years  previously — that  these 
covenants  were  civil  and  national,  and  that  the  descending 
obligations  followed  not  the  individual,  but  the  national, 
identity ;  and  although  the  descendants  of  covenanted  an- 
cestors, as  citizens  of  another  nation  they  were  not  willing 
to  acknowledge  special  descending  obligations. 

When  it  was  urged  that  these  covenants  embraced  moral 
duties  as  well  as  civil  and  national,  and  that  their  perform- 
ance was  made  binding  upon  posterity,  the  Synod  answered 
in  the  "  Little  Constitution"  that,  "  we  are  bound  by  the 
divine  authority  to  perform  all  the  moral  duties  contained 
in  them."  That  is,  whatever  is  contained  in  them  which 
is  clearly  a  moral  duty  we  are  bound  to  perform  by  the 
divine  authority  which  requires  it  and  imparts  to  it  its 
character  as  a  moral  duty.  Any  further  obligation  would 
be  a  surplusage,  and  that,  too,  from  an  inferior  source  of 
authority. 

Another  difficulty  with  which  the  new  church  had  to 
contend,  in  adjusting  itself  to  its  new  surroundings,  was 
the  precise  manner  of  testimony-bearing.  It  is  very 
evident  that  the  founders  of  the  church,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  their  early  training,  felt  that  there  was  or  might 
be  good  reason  for  the  adoption  of  some  kind  of  a  "Judi- 
cial Testimony  "  in  addition  to  the  Confession  of  Faith. 
Hence  the  appointment  of  the  two  committees  already 
mentioned  to  draft  a  "  Narrative  "  and  to  bring  in  an  illus- 
trative overture.  It  is  just  as  evident  that  there  was  a 
doubt  and  a  hesitancy  in  this  matter,  because  the  first 
committee  never  reported,  and  the  action  of  the  other  was 


FORMULA  TING  STANDARDS. 


IQI 


only  commended  but  never  adopted.  But  as  they  con- 
tinued to  discuss  the  subject,  the  Synod  became  more  and 
more  confirmed  in  its  opposition  to  such  an  instrument, 
and  finally  and  fully  decided  the  question  in  1797,  by  the 
adoption  of  a  long  explanatory  paper,  in  which  they  admit 
the  duty  of  testifying  for  the  truth,  whether  it  relates  to 
doctrine,  discipline,  worship,  or  manners;  but  to  do  so 
effectively  there  must  be  a  wise  adaptation  to  the  imme- 
diate state  of  the  church  and  society.  And  that  inasmuch 
as  there  is  a  constant  change  going  on  in  the  current  of 
thought  and  the  manners  and  customs  of  society,  old  errors 
fading  away  and  new  errors  springing  up,  a  permanent 
"  Judicial  Testimony  "  will  not  meet  the  exigencies  that 
may  arise  from  time  to  time.  It  would  soon  be  lumbered 
with  things  of  no  present  practical  interest,  and  grow  more 
and  more  deficient  in  reference  to  new  things  of  pressing 
importance.  The  church's  life  is  progressive,  and  so  should 
be  its  "  Testimony."  It  must  deal  with  what  is,  and  not  with 
what  was. 

As  witnesses  of  the  Most  High,  Christians  are  especially  bound  to  avow 
and  to  defend  those  truths  which  are  more  immediately  decried,  and  to 
oppose  those  errors  which  immediately  prevail.  This  is  termed  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  being  established  in  the  present  truth.  It  is  the  very  essence  of  a 
judicious  "Testimony,"  nor  is  there  any  way  in  which  judicatories  can  so  well 
maintain  it  as  in  serious  and  Scriptural  occasional  acts.  Of  this  method  of 
testifying  there  are  plain  and  numerous  traces  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  in 
the  pious  practice  of  the  primitive  church. 

To  escape  from  these  distinctive  peculiarities  of  Scottish 
dissent  was  a  very  tedious  and  difficult  thing  ;  and  because 
the  Synod  would  not  include  the  Scottish  Covenants  in  its 
Standards,  and  declined  to  issue  a  "  Judicial  Testimony  " 
of  the  Scottish  kind,  two  of  the  original  founders  of  the 
church  withdrew  and  walked  no  more  with  her. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  in  the  first  article  of  the  "  Little 
Constitution,"  where  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Con- 


192 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [CHAP.  V. 


fession  of  Faith  is  professed,  the  Synod  expressly  excepted 
those  sections  of  chapters  xx.  and  xxiii.  and  xxxi.  which 
define  the  power  of  civil  government  in  relation  to  religion, 
and  reserved  them  "  for  candid  discussion  on  some  future 
occasion  as  God  shall  be  pleased  to  direct."  These  sec- 
tions were  under  discussion  for  several  years,  and  then  it 
was  finally  decided  to  alter  the  text  of  the  Confession  so 
as  to  free  it  from  all  traces  of  Erastianism,  and  make  the 
church  independent  of  the  state  in  all  matters  of  doctrine, 
government,  and  discipline.  At  the  same  time  and  for 
the  same  purpose  the  word  authorizing  was  substituted 
for  the  word  tolerating  in  the  enumeration  of  the  sins 
forbidden  by  the  second  commandment,  as  given  in  the 
Larger  Catechism. 

Sixteen  years  were  thus  spent  in  formulating  the  Stand- 
ards of  the  church ;  and  having  settled  all  things  to  their 
mind,  the  Synod  at  its  meeting  at  Greencastle,  Pa.,  on  the 
31st  of  May,  1799,  "  judicially  ratified"  and  "declared 
the  aforesaid  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  together  with  the  Government  and  Discipline 
of  the  Church,  and  the  Directories  of  Public  and  Private 
Worship,  to  be  the  Constitution  and  Standards  of  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church  in  all  matters  relating 
to  Doctrine,  Government,  Discipline,  and  Worship."  They 
declared  this  to  be  their  "  FIXED  TESTIMONY,"  and  that, 
as  emergencies  may  require,  they  will  "  emit  occasional 
testimonies  in  particular  acts  against  errors  and  delusions." 
They  also  fixed  the  terms  of  admission  to  membership  in 
the  church  to  be : 

A  profession  of  faith  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments as  the  perfect  and  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  together  with  an 
approbation  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms, 
Form  of  Church  Government,  and  Directories  for  Worship,  as  therein 
received ;  a  holy  life  and  conversation,  and  subjection  to  the  Order  and  Dis 
cipline  of  the  church. 


PRESBYTERY  OE  LONDONDERRY. 


193 


In  1786  the  congregations  in  New  England  were  erected 
into  a  new  Presbytery,  known  as  the  Presbytery  of  Lon- 
donderry. On  the  25th  of  October,  1793,  this  Presbytery 
coalesced  with  "  The  Presbytery  of  the  Eastward,"  an  in- 
dependent Presbytery,  composed  of  some  Irish  congrega- 
tions which  still  lingered,  and  the  united  body  still  re- 
tained the  title  Presbytery  of  Londonderry.  This  was 
done  without  the  knowledge  or  authority  of  the  Synod, 
which  still  claimed  jurisdiction  over  its  New  England 
churches.  This  new  Presbytery,  which  was  composed 
largely  of  those  who  knew  nothing  of  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church  or  its  Scottish  antecedents,  was  careful  to 
hold  itself  aloof  from  the  Synod  without  any  declaration 
of  independence.  Its  congregations  felt  the  influence 
of  their  New  England  surroundings,  and  were  gradually 
yielding  to  Congregationalism  in  the  matters  of  praise  and 
discipline  and  government,  and  the  Synod  rebuked  the 
Presbytery  for  its  laxity,  but  without  accomplishing  any 
reformation.  Finally,  in  1  796,  the  Synod  appointed  two 
of  its  ministers  to  visit  the  Presbytery  and  try  to  reclaim 
them.  This  committee  was  providentially  hindered  from 
going,  but  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  in  its  name,  wrote  a  very 
earnest  and  able  letter,  expostulating  with  the  Presbytery 
for  their  irregularities,  and  sustaining  the  ground  taken  by 
the  Synod.  Dr.  Morrison,  of  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  answered 
for  the  Presbytery,  and  stated  that  the  action  of  the  Synod 
in  formulating  the  standards  of  the  church  was  not  accept- 
able to  their  people  generally,  and  then  avowed  their  in- 
dependence of  the  Synod,  and  stated  that  "  this  Presbytery 
consider  themselves,  with  divine  aid,  competent  to  all  the 
purposes  of  judicial  authority  in  the  churches  or  socie- 
ties under  their  care ;  are  best  acquainted  with  their  cus- 
toms, temper,  and  manners,  and  their  situation  with  respect 
to  other  denominations."    The  Presbytery  continued  to 


194 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  v. 


maintain  its  independence,  and  in  1801  the  Synod  erased 
its  name  from  the  roll  and  declared  it  no  longer  in  its  con- 
nection. Thus  perished  Associate  Reformed  Presyterian- 
ism  in  New  England,  until  resuscitated  in  1846  by  Dr. 
Blaikie  in  Boston.  This  Londonderry  Presbytery  re- 
mained independent  until  1 809,  when  it  united  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  where  it  still  remains. 

The  Reformed  Dutch  and  Associate  Reformed  Churches 
entertained  from  the  first  very  kindly  feelings  for  each 
other,  and  as  early  as  1798,  and  again  in  1820,  efforts  for 
a  union  were  made,  but,  for  reasons  which  could  scarcely 
be  appreciated  now,  without  success.  Nevertheless,  the 
latter  gave  to  the  former,  from  time  to  time,  some  of  her 
choicest  men,  in  the  persons  of  Drs.  Gosman,  Matthews, 
McMurray,  Knox,  Strong,  etc. 

When  the  church  had  grown  so  as  to  embrace  seven 
Presbyteries,  and  was  scattered  from  New  York  to  Georgia, 
it  was  deemed  expedient  to  organize  a  delegated  supreme 
judicatory,  so  as  to  lessen,  as  far  as  possible,  the  slow  and 
toilsome  travel  required  of  those  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
church.  So  in  1802  the  whole  church  was  divided  into 
four  Synods,  containing  two  Presbyteries  each,  and  sub- 
ordinate to  an  annual  delegated  General  Synod.  These 
Synods  were  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  Scioto,  and 
the  Carolinas.  The  General  Synod  held  its  first  meeting 
at  Greencastle,  Franklin  County,  Pa.,  on  the  30th  of  May, 
1804,  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  Dr.  John  M. 
Mason,  after  which  Alexander  Dobbin  was  chosen  moder- 
ator, and  James  Gray  stated  clerk. 

The  General  Synod  did  its  work  smoothly  and  suc- 
cessfully for  six  or  seven  years,  and  then  a  serious  trouble 
commenced.  It  will  be  recollected  that  when  the  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Church  was  organized,  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith  was  adopted  pure  and  simple,  without 


OCCASIONAL  COMMUNION. 


195 


explanation  or  limitation,  excepting  the  power  of  the  civil 
magistrate  circa  sacra.  Consequently  the  organic  law  of  the 
church  on  the  subject  of  communion  was  contained  in  the 
second  section  of  the  twenty-sixth  chapter,  which  reads  thus : 

Saints  by  profession  are  bound  to  maintain  a  holy  fellowship  and  commun- 
ion in  the  worship  of  God,  and  in  performing  such  other  spiritual  services 
as  tend  to  their  mutual  edification,  as  also  in  relieving  each  other  in  outward 
things,  according  to  their  several  abilities  and  necessities  ;  which  communion, 
as  God  offereth  opportunity,  is  to  be  extended  to  all  those  who  in  every  place 
call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  Synod,  however,  felt  the  necessity  of  some  limita- 
tion, and  at  its  first  meeting  placed  in  the  "  Little  Consti- 
tution "  the  following  article: 

The  members  of  Synod  ...  are  willing,  as  God  offereth  opportunity,  to 
extend  communion  to  all  who  in  every  place  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  in  conformity  to  his  will ;  but  as  occasional  communion,  in  a  divided 
state  of  the  church,  may  produce  great  disorders  if  it  be  not  conducted  with 
much  wisdom  and  moderation,  they  esteem  themselves  and  the  people  under 
their  inspection  inviolably  bound,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  to  submit  to  every 
restriction  of  their  liberty  which  general  edification  renders  necessary. 

To  this  an  explanatory  note  was  appended,  in  which  it 
is  stated  that — 

The  principle  expressed  in  this  article  is  not  a  new  principle  adopted  by 
the  Synod.  It  is  one  of  the  received  principles  adopted  by  the  Secession, 
and  it  is  set  in  a  very  strong  light  in  chapter  twenty-six  of  the  Confession 
of  Faith.  .  .  .  No  objection  can  therefore  be  justly  stated  against  it  as  it 
stands  in  the  Confession  of  Faith.  The  application  of  the  principle  to  par- 
ticular cases  may  indeed  be  attended  with  some  difficulties.  We  are  not,  how- 
ever, accountable  for  these  difficulties,  as  they  arise  from  the  divided  state  of 
the  Church  of  Christ.  The  article  is  guarded,  and  cannot,  without  the  most 
evident  perversion,  be  construed  as  a  license  to  hold  unscriptural  communion 
with  other  churches.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  Synod  not  to  go  into  connec- 
tions with  any  denomination  which  are  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  what  is 
usually  called  the  covenanted  reformation. 

The  Overture,  which  was  approved  by  the  Synod  in 
1790,  declares  in  its  illustrations  of  chapter  twenty-six, 
among  other  things — 

That  a  temporary,  or  what  is  called  occasional,  communion  with  sister 
churches  may  lawfully,  in  some  instances,  take  place,  is  what  no  man  of 


196 


THE  U XI TED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  v. 


understanding,  who  is  not  much  pinched  to  support  some  favorite  and  false 
hypothesis,  will  deny.  The  terms  of  it  are  not  materially  different  from  the 
terms  of  stated  communion,  only  making  allowance  for  a  variety  in  innocent 
customs  and  forms.  ...  By  occasional  communion  we  do  not  mean  the  ad- 
mitting a  person  to  our  communion  whom  it  would  be  sinful  to  continue  in 
it,  but  a  person  who,  on  account  of  local  circumstances,  cannot  continue  in  it. 

To  condense  and  formulate  :  the  established  law  of  this 
new  church  was  that  organic  union  was  not  necessary  for 
communion,  yet  as  the  Church  of  Christ  was  divided,  and 
errors,  serious  errors,  were  taught  in  some  of  its  branches, 
lest  these  errors  might  be  countenanced  and  discipline  re- 
laxed, communion  in  all  ordinary  cases  should  be  confined 
to  its  members,  and  in  extraordinary  cases  extended  only 
to  such  as  might  under  favorable  circumstances  be  admitted 
to  full  communion.  And  this  remained  the  law  of  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church  in  all  its  Synods  down  to  the 
union  of  1858. 

In  May,  18 10,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason  resigned  the  pastoral 
care  of  the  Cedar  Street  congregation  in  New  York  City, 
and  with  a  colony  commenced  the  work  of  building  up  a 
new  congregation  farther  uptown.  He  had  great  difficulty 
in  getting  a  suitable  house  in  which  to  hold  his  services 
until  their  own  church  building  should  be  erected  in  Murray 
Street.  In  their  strait  the  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Romeyn  was  pastor  offered 
the  use  of  their  house  at  all  such  times  as  would  not  inter- 
fere with  their  own  services.  This  kind  and  fraternal  offer 
was  gladly  accepted,  and  Dr.  Mason  held  his  services  im- 
mediately after  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Romeyn's,  in  both 
the  forenoon  and  afternoon.  A  large  part  of  Dr.  Romeyn's 
people  were  in  the  habit  of  remaining  to  hear  Dr.  Mason, 
who  was  regarded  as  the  finest  pulpit  orator  of  his  day, 
and  in  this  way  the  two  congregations  became  very  inti- 
mate. When  the' time  came  for  Dr.  Mason's  first  commun- 
ion his  session  resolved,  in  view  of  the  intimate  relations 


DR.  J.  M.  MASON. 


197 


of  the  two  congregations,  and  of  the  hospitality  which 
they  were  receiving,  to  invite  Dr.  Romeyn's  congrega- 
tion to  unite  with  them.  This  was  accepted,  and  when 
Dr.  Romeyn's  communion  occurred  the  courtesy  was  re- 
ciprocated. This  was  certainly  a  new  departure  in  the 
history  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  for  the  practice 
of  her  ministers  had  been  influenced  by  tradition,  and  had 
always  been  more  conservative  and  restrictive  than  her 
laws,  and  it  became  the  subject  of  very  serious  considera- 
tion by  the  General  Synod  at  its  meeting  in  May,  181 1. 
After  all  the  facts  had  been  ascertained,  Messrs.  Hender- 
son and  Dick  moved,  "  That  the  Synod  do  declare  their 
decided  disapprobation  of  the  deportment  of  said  breth- 
ren (Mason,  Matthews,  and  Clarke)  in  the  premises,  and 
command  them  to  return  to  the  established  order  of  the 
church."  This  was  negatived,  and  the  following  resolu- 
tion, offered  by  Messrs.  Dickey  and  Porter,  was  adopted, 
with  only  three  negative  votes : 

That  the  judicatories,  ministers,  and  members  of  the  church  be  and  they 
hereby  are  entreated  and  required  to  exercise  mutual  forbearance  in  the 
premises ;  and  in  the  use  of  their  discretion  to  observe  mutual  tenderness 
and  brotherly  love,  studying  to  avoid  whatever  may  be  contrary  thereto,  and 
giving  special  heed  to  the  preservation  of  sound  and  efficient  discipline. 

Upon  this  occasion  Dr.  Mason  made  a  speech  of  over 
three  hours,  which  was  regarded  as  the  ablest  effort  of  his 
life.  He  contended  that  his  congregation  had  not  violated 
the  law  of  the  church,  because  their  circumstances  were 
very  peculiar  and  extraordinary,  and  that  they  had  simply 
yielded  to  the  necessities  of  their  condition,  and  that  it 
was  neither  their  desire  nor  intention  to  continue  to  do  so 
after  the  completion  of  their  own  building. 

This  action  of  Synod  was  not  acceptable  to  many  in 
the  Synod  of  Scioto,  and  remonstrances  and  petitions  were 
sent  up  to  every  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  for  several 


1 98 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chap.  v. 


years,  but  nothing  was  accomplished.  As  a  consequence 
of  this  controversy,  Dr.  Mason  in  1816  published  his  "  Plea 
for  Sacramental  Communion  on  Catholic  Principles,"  in 
which  he  took  higher  ground  than  in  his  speech  before 
the  Synod,  that  the  "  members  who  hold  acknowledged 
communion  with  the  Head,  whatever  be  their  subordinate 
variance,  ought  also  to  hold  communion  with  each  other 
in  those  ordinances  which  mark  their  communion  with  the 
Head."  He  never  favored  indiscriminate  or  promiscuous 
communion;  he  always  insisted  upon  judging  whether  a 
man  really  was  in  communion  with  the  "  Head  "  before 
he  would  acknowledge  him  to  be  a  "  member."  He  de- 
fended the  "  doctrines  of  grace  "  with  perhaps  more  zeal 
and  ability  than  any  man  of  his  day,  and  to  the  last  re- 
fused to  hold  "  Christian  fellowship  with  men  who  corrupt 
those  precious  doctrines  which  relate  to  the  person,  offices, 
or  work  of  the  Saviour,  to  the  way  of  the  sinner's  accept- 
ance with  God,  or  to  the  renewing  and  sanctifying  work 
of  the  Spirit." 

The  church  used  exclusively  in  its  praise  the  Scottish 
version  of  the  Psalms ;  but  the  necessity  for  some  im- 
provement in  their  meter  and  rhythm  was  soon  felt,  and 
in  1 8 10  a  committee  of  five  of  its  leading  ministers  was 
appointed  by  the  Synod.  Their  instruction  was  "  to  pro- 
cure an  improved  version  of  Scriptural  Psalmody,  and  to 
have  the  same  in  readiness  for  such  order  as  the  General 
Synod  shall  see  meet  to  make  at  the  next  stated  meeting." 
Nothing  valuable  grew  out  of  this,  for  their  poetic  talent 
was  insufficient ;  but  liberty  was  given  to  use  the  version 
of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church — a  liberty  which  was 
neither  asked  nor  used  by  the  congregations.  The  mat- 
ter, however,  became  mixed  up  with  the  communion  con- 
troversy. There  were  no  newspapers  in  those  days  to 
publish  facts,  and  rumor  is  always  an  unsafe  guide;  so 


DECAY  OF  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD. 


1 99 


some  of  the  remote  sections  of  the  church  became  alarmed, 
supposing  that  an  attempt  was  being  made  to  set  aside 
their  dearly  loved  Psalms,  which  they  cherished  as  a  pre- 
cious inheritance. 

The  Synod  began  to  give  decided  evidence  of  premature 
decay.  Different  causes  combined  to  produce  this.  The 
communion  and  psalmody  controversies  did  something 
toward  dividing  the  church  and  alienating  the  confidence 
of  brethren.  Two  or  three  unpleasant  cases  of  discipline 
helped  to  weaken  the  bonds  of  affection,  particularly  a 
quarrel  between  Mr.  Rankin  and  Dr.  Bishop,  which  was 
adjudicated  by  a  commission  of  the  General  Synod  in  such 
a  way  as  to  satisfy  neither  party  and  pretty  thoroughly 
ruin  the  fortunes  of  the  Presbytery  of  Kentucky.  There 
may  have  been  also  a  little  lordly  domination  on  the  part 
of  some ;  there  certainly  was  considerable  jealousy  and 
suspicion  on  the  part  of  others  ;  and  such  things  do  a  quiet 
and  deadly  work.  The  General  Synod  met  every  year 
in  Philadelphia,  and  the  delegates  from  the  Carolinas  and 
from  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  who  had  always 
to  travel  on  horseback  and  often  over  bad  roads,  could 
not  as  a  general  thing  attend,  and  the  government  of  the 
church  became  centralized,  and  so  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
few ;  and  the  possession  of  power  never  promotes  humility. 
In  181 7  the  Synod  of  Scioto  asked  that  the  General  Synod 
should  meet,  occasionally  at  least,  in  a  more  western  and 
central  place  than  Philadelphia,  or,  if  this  could  not  be 
done,  that  the  church  should  be  divided  into  two  or  more 
separate  and  independent  Synods.  Both  of  these  requests 
were  refused.  The  result  of  all  these  things  combined 
was  that  the  Synod  of  Scioto,  which  embraced  all  the  ter- 
ritory west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  at  its  meeting 
at  Rush  Creek,  Fairfield  County,  O.,  in  1820,  constituted 
itself  into  an  independent  judicatory,  under  the  title  of 


200 


THE  U XI  TED  PRE  SB  YTERIA  A  rS.  [Chai>.  v. 


the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  West.  In  1821  the 
Synod  of  the  Carolinas  petitioned  the  General  Synod  for  a 
separate  and  independent  organization.  This  was  granted, 
and  on  the  1st  of  April,  1822,  it  so  constituted  itself  as 
the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  SontJi,  and  has  so  re- 
mained until  the  present  time.  This  left  only  the  Synods 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  in  connection  with  the 
General  Synod. 

When  the  General  Synod,  thus  reduced,  met  in  Phila- 
delphia in  May,  1821,  an  overture  was  received  from  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  proposing 
an  organic  union  of  the  two  churches.  Committees  were 
appointed  by  both  bodies  to  conduct  the  negotiations,  and 
the  following  plan  was  agreed  upon  as  a  basis  of  union, 
viz.:  1.  That  the  different  Presbyteries  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  should  either  retain  their  separate  or- 
ganization or  be  amalgamated  with  those  of  the  General 
Assembly  at  their  own  choice;  2.  That  the  theological 
seminary  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  should  be 
consolidated  with  the  General  Assembly's  one  at  Prince- 
ton;  3.  That  the  Associate  Reformed  Library  and  Funds 
should  be  transferred  and  belong  to  the  seminary  at 
Princeton.  There  were  no  doctrinal  terms  in  the  basis, 
inasmuch  as  both  parties  adhered  to  the  same  Confession 
of  Faith  and  Catechisms.  This  plan  was  overtured  to  the 
Presbyteries  of  the  General  Synod. 

The  General  Synod  met  on  the  15th  of  May,  1822,  in 
Philadelphia,  when  only  three  fourths  of  the  delegates 
commissioned  appeared.  The  overture  in  reference  to 
union  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  taken  up,  and 
three  fifths  of  the  Presbyteries  reported  against  it.  Not- 
withstanding this  presbyterial  rejection,  the  subject  was 
discussed  at  length  for  parts  of  four  days,  and  then,  on 
the  2 1  st  of  May,  it  was  resolved,  "That  this  Synod  ap- 


UNION  WITH  THE  PRESBYTERIANS.  201 

prove  and  hereby  do  ratify  the  plan  of  union  between  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church,  proposed  by  commissioners 
from  said  churches."  This  was  carried  by  a  majority  of 
tivo,  while  one  fourth  of  the  members  present  refused  to 
vote.  Mr.  Smith  raised  the  objection  that  the  resolution 
was  not  passed,  because  less  than  a  majority  of  members 
present  had  not  voted  for  it.  The  moderator,  Dr.  Laurie, 
of  Washington  City,  decided  that  all  silent  votes  were  to 
be  reckoned  with  the  majority,  and  that  the  resolution 
was  carried.  Those  who  voted  in  the  minority  protested 
against  this  action,  because  it  was  against  the  voice  of  the 
church,  as  a  majority  of  its  presbyteries  and  congregations 
and  ministers  were  opposed  to  the  union.  And  fourteen 
years  afterward  the  civil  courts  pronounced  the  act  ille- 
gal, and  ordered  the  restoration  of  the  property  transferred 
under  it. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  transfer  the  library  and 
the  seminary  funds  from  New  York  to  Princeton,  and  to  re- 
port the  result  to  the  General  Assembly.  Mr.  J.  Arbuckle, 
the  stated  clerk  of  Synod,  and  also  the  pastor-elect  of  the 
Spruce  Street  Church  in  Philadelphia,  was  one  of  this  com- 
mittee, and  he  asked  and  obtained  leave  of  absence  that 
he  might  go  immediately  to  New  York  and  attend  to 
these  removals  before  any  legal  obstacles  could  be  placed 
in  the  way.  The  General  Assembly  was  at  once  advised 
of  all  this  action,  and  a  union  thanksgiving  was  held  the 
next  day  in  the  Assembly's  house,  when  a  Psalm  and 
a  hymn  were  sung  and  a  prayer  offered  by  one  of  each 
party.  The  Union  part  of  the  General  Synod  met  the 
next  morning  in  synodic  capacity,  and  adopted  the  draft 
of  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  churches  in  explanation  and  de- 
fense of  their  course,  and  directed  Mr.  Arbuckle  to  deposit 
all  the  minutes  and  documents  of  the  General  Synod  with 


202 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  v. 


the  session  of  the  Spruce  Street  congregation,  "  subject  to 
the  future  disposal  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church."  They  then  sang,  not  as  usual,  the  one 
hundred  and  thirty-third  Psalm,  but  the  penitential  one 
hundred  and  thirtieth,  and  "  finally  adjourned."  Many 
years  afterward  the  large  minute-book  was  very  provi- 
dentially found,  by  a  friend  of  the  church,  in  a  grocery 
store  in  the  city;  the  proprietor  had  bought  it  in  a  junk 
shop,  as  waste  paper.  It  is  now  in  the  vault  of  the  Pub- 
lication House  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.  On  the  day  of  thanksgiving  the  delegates  of 
the  General  Synod  were  cordially  invited  to  take  their 
seats  forthwith  in  the  Assembly  as  constituent  members. 
Rev.  Messrs.  McLeod  and  Duncan  and  Elders  Nourse  and 
Patterson  did  so,  but  all  the  others  excused  themselves 
and  immediately  returned  home. 

Thus  perished  the  General  Synod,  after  a  somewhat 
troubled  existence  of  only  eighteen  years,  and  mainly 
because  of  the  domineering  spirit  of  a  few  leading  men. 
Not  many  ministers  or  congregations  left  the  old  church, 
but  their  loss  was  seriously  felt,  for  it  swept  away  every- 
thing Associate  Reformed  in  the  cities  of  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  and  Washington.  It  cut  the  church 
into  three  pieces,  North,  West,  and  South,  and  our  history 
follows  the  fortunes  of  the  first  two  of  these. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  REFORMED  SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK. 

THIS  Synod  as  a  subordinate  Synod  met  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1812,  in  Broadalbin,  Fulton  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
adjourned  to  meet  in  May,  18 14,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
This  meeting  did  not  take  place,  and  until  February,  1822, 
there  was  no  subsequent  meeting.  The  one  appointed  for 
1 8 14  was  mainly  prevented  by  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
country  produced  by  the  war  then  existing  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Subsequent  meetings 
were  omitted  from  neglect  or  a  want  of  interest.  The 
unhappy  and  personal  controversies  in  the  General  Synod 
had  so  distracted  and  disheartened  many  of  the  ministers 
that  they  felt  very  much  like  retiring  and  letting  every- 
thing outside  of  their  personal  charges  go  by  default. 
The  spirit  of  the  body  had  been  measurably  destroyed, 
but  the  action  of  the  General  Synod  in  1821,  in  reference 
to  a  union  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  roused  these 
Northern  ministers  from  their  lethargy,  and  they  resolved 
to  labor  still  for  the  welfare  of  their  old  mother  church. 
Dr.  Robert  Proudfit,  moderator  of  the  Synod  of  1812, 
called  a  special  meeting  of  the  Synod,  to  assemble  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1822,  at  Galway,  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.  This 
meeting  was  well  attended  by  both  ministers  and  elders, 
and  the  two  following  resolutions  were  adopted,  with  but 
one  dissenting  voice : 

203 


204 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap,  vl 


Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Synod,  the  union  proposed  with  the 
General  Assembly  is  inexpedient,  and  calculated  to  disturb  the  peace  of  our 
churches. 

2.  Resolved,  That  this  Synod  will  maintain  its  existence  in  its  present 
form,  whatever  be  the  decision  of  the  General  Synod  upon  the  contemplated 
union. 

It  was  then  agreed  to  hold  the  next  regular  meeting  at 
Newburg,  on  the  13th  of  the  following  September.  Had 
the  five  delegates  from  this  Synod  that  failed  to  appear 
in  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  in  1822  attended, 
the  resolution  for  union  would  not  have  passed,  for  they 
were  all  opposed  to  it. 

The  Synod  met  in  Newburg,  according  to  appointment, 
and  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  James  Scrim- 
geour,  the  senior  minister,  and  was  by  him  constituted 
with  prayer.  This  was  its  first  meeting  as  an  independent 
and  supreme  judicatory,  and  the  Court  of  Chancery  of 
New  Jersey  subsequently  decided  that  it  was  the  legiti- 
mate successor  of  the  General  Synod,  or  at  least  next  of 
kin,  and  thus  its  legal  heir. 

The  yearnings  of  a  common  parentage  and  the  memories 
of  old  friendships  and  past  associations  remained  strong  in 
the  disrupted  body,  so  in  1823  propositions  came  from  the 
West  and  the  South  asking  for  some  closer  connection  of 
the  several  fragments  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 
Negotiations  were  opened,  and  carried  on  for  four  years, 
and  then  in  September  of  1827  delegates  from  the  three 
synods  met  in  Pittsburg  and  drafted  a  plan  for  the  re- 
organization of  a  General  Synod.  The  synods  did  not 
approve  of  the  plan.  The  prevailing  objections  were  the 
great  extent  of  territory  covered,  and  the  toil  and  expense 
of  the  travel  involved.  They  concluded,  however,  that 
as  they  were  one  in  parentage  and  faith  and  practice  and 
feeling,  they  would  remain  one  in  reality,  without  any 
organic  union,  and  so  resolved  to  recognize  each  other  as 


MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 


205 


sister  churches,  and  to  reciprocate  Christian  and  ministerial 
fellowship,  and  to  accredit  testimonials  of  private  members, 
probationers,  and  ministers  precisely  in  the  same  manner 
as  if  they  were  connected  in  one  ecclesiastical  organization. 
And  the  result  was  harmony,  peace,  kind  feeling,  and 
pleasant  intercourse.  There  may  be  danger  in  pressing 
the  matter  and  fact  of  organization  too  far,  for  crossing  and 
conflicting  interests  in  the  machinery  may  sometimes  inter- 
fere with  the  true  Christian  spirit  which  should  always 
dominate.  Union  with  the  head,  Christ,  will  secure  one- 
ness of  the  members. 

The  Synod  felt  its  responsibility  for  the  wide  and  needy 
field  which  Providence  had  committed  to  its  care,  and  re- 
solved to  do  the  best  it  could.  In  1824  it  organized  itself 
into  a  Domestic  Missionary  Society,  and  had  an  annual 
sermon  on  the  subject,  and  subordinate  societies  were  in- 
stituted in  all  the  congregations  which  held  monthly  meet- 
ings for  prayer  and  information.  The  machinery  was 
rather  clumsy,  and  yet  it  was  the  means  of  developing 
considerable  missionary  spirit  and  of  securing  liberal  con- 
tributions. 

During  the  month  of  September,  1826,  William  Morgan, 
of  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  for  revelations  made  by  him,  was  ab- 
ducted by  some  of  his  brother  masons,  and  taken  by  relays 
of  horses  through  Caledonia  and  Canandaigua,  and  back 
through  Rochester  and  Lockport  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Niagara  River,  and  there  put  into  a  boat  at  night,  and 
taken  out  on  Lake  Ontario  and  never  seen  again.  This 
produced  a  very  great  outburst  of  feeling  throughout  the 
whole  country,  and  especially  in  western  New  York.  As 
it  took  place  in  the  territory  of  the  Synod  of  New  York, 
and  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Presbytery  of  Caledonia,  it 
was  very  natural  that  the  subject  of  freemasonry  should 
come  up  before  the  Synod  as  a  moral  question.    And  so 


2o6 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS,        [Chap.  vi. 


it  did  in  1828,  when,  after  protracted  and  mature  deliber- 
ation, it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  multiplication  and  the  nature  of  the  oaths  administered 
in  the  masonic  lodges  are  unwarranted  in  the  Word  of  God  and  demoralizing 
in  their  tendency ;  and  that  our  church-members  be  and  hereby  are  enjoined 
not  to  connect  themselves  with  the  society ;  and  any  who  may  have  been  in- 
itiated are  affectionately  recommended  to  withdraw  from  any  further  connec- 
tion with  this  institution. 

Excitement  continued  and  even  increased  in  both  church 
and  State,  so  that  in  1830  it  was  further  enacted — 

That  this  Synod  will  and  hereby  do  express  their  decided  disapprobation 
of  the  principles  and  usages  of  freemasonry,  as  far  as  known  to  them,  and 
warn  their  people  solemnly  and  affectionately  against  all  connection  with  the 
institution ;  that  it  be  and  hereby  is  enjoined  upon  church  sessions,  under 
the  inspection  of  this  Synod,  to  adopt  the  most  prudent  and  effective  measures 
to  remove  the  contamination  from  our  churches. 

A  few  members  of  the  church  in  Delaware  County  asked 
the  privilege  of  retaining  a  silent  membership  in  masonry 
by  simply  paying  their  dues  without  meeting  in  the  lodge. 
But  they  were  answered,  "  That  the  act  of  Synod,  adopted 
at  its  last  meeting,  requires  them  to  withdraw  entirely  from 
all  connection  with  and  subjection  to  the  society  of  free- 
masons." This  position  of  the  Synod  was  never  afterward 
questioned  or  modified,  or  in  any  way  disturbed. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  use  of 
ardent  spirits  by  ministers  as  well  as  laymen  was  almost 
universal.  Good  men  had  not  yet  learned  that  there  might 
be  a  criminal  temptation  in  the  mere  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing drinks  as  a  beverage.  They  were  free  to  condemn 
drunkenness  as  a  sin,  but  they  supposed  that  all  its  sinful- 
ness arose  from  the  abuse  of  that  which,  in  moderation, 
was  lawful.  In  1828  the  Synod  pronounced  intemper- 
ance "  a  great  and  prevailing  evil  in  our  country,"  and 
directed  its  ministers  to  preach  against  this  vice,  and  that 
they  and  their  elders  should  show  an  example  of  the  strict- 


TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


207 


est  temperance,  abstaining  in  this  matter  even  from  the 
appearance  of  evil.  The  custom  of  the  country  hitherto 
had  been  to  have  the  bottle  always  upon  the  dinner-table 
upon  all  special  occasions,  whether  it  was  at  a  Synod  or  a 
Presbytery,  at  a  marriage  or  a  funeral ;  but  a  public  opinion 
began  now  to  grow  rapidly,  which  challenged  the  propriety 
and  correctness  of  such  a  custom,  and  under  its  quickening 
influence  the  Synod  in  1829  took  the  following  action:  • 

Resolved,  That  this  Synod  disapprove  of  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors  as  a 
beverage,  and  that  they  will  themselves  entirely  abstain  from  it  in  all  their 
meetings,  and  recommend  to  Presbyteries  and  sessions  to  do  the  same. 

This  was  done  on  the  avowed  principle  of  sustaining  the 
expression  of  opinion  by  corresponding  practice.  Temper- 
ance societies  began  to  spring  up,  in  which  the  members 
pledged  themselves  at  first  to  a  modified  and  restricted 
use  of  liquors,  and  in  many  cases  imposing  a  fine  for  any 
violation  of  the  pledge.  Finally  the  pledge  required  total 
abstinence.  In  1833  the  Synod  passed  an  act  approving 
of  the  establishment  of  temperance  societies  on  "Script- 
ural principles,"  and  cordially  recommended  and  exhorted 
their  members  to  connect  themselves  with  these  societies. 
The  temperance  movement  at  this  first  outburst  became 
very  wild  and  developed  no  little  fanaticism,  so  the  Synod 
limited  its  approval  to  those  only  that  were  organized  in 
accordance  with  Scriptural  principles.  The  Synod  had 
occasion  to  speak  upon  this  subject  at  different  subsequent 
times,  and  always  condemned  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors 
as  a  beverage. 

With  our  present  wealth  of  religious  periodicals  it  is 
hard  to  conceive  how  the  church,  within  the  memory  of 
some  still  living,  was  able  to  do  its  work  without  these 
pastoral  assistants.  Their  need  was  long  felt  before  the 
remedy  was  provided.     The  Synod  soon  realized  the 


208 


THE  UXITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  vi. 


absolute  necessity  of  having  some  periodical  under  its 
control,  or  so  connected  with  it  that  the  homes  of  the 
families  of  the  church  could  be  easily  reached  through  its 
pages.  So  in  1 831  it  directed  the  establishment  of  a 
monthly  periodical,  to  be  called  the  "  Christian  Magazine," 
to  be  published  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  and  to  be  edited  by 
Rev.  John  F.  McLaren:  This  magazine  was  very  credit- 
ably edited,  and  for  eleven  years  did  a  good  work  for  the 
church,  and  then  for  sundry  causes  it  ceased  to  exist.  The 
necessity  for  such  an  organ  was  now  more  painfully  felt 
than  before  its  advantages  had  been  experienced,  so  in 
1844  the  establishment  of  a  similar  magazine,  "The 
Christian  Instructor,"  was  ordered.  For  two  years  it  was 
published  in  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  and  edited  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Forsyth,  and  then  transferred  to  Philadelphia,  to  be 
conducted  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Dales  as  a  private  enterprise.  It 
was  subsequently  converted  into  a  large  weekly  paper, 
and  is  still  doing  good  service  in  the  church. 

The  Synod  in  its  independent  career  soon  felt  hampered 
and  oppressed  from  a  lack  of  ministers,  and  realized  the 
imperative  necessity  of  establishing  a  theological  seminary 
to  supply  the  demand.  Dr.  Alexander  Proudfit  and  Rev. 
Robert  Forrest  were  appointed  to  apply  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  return  of  the 
library  and  funds  of  the  old  seminary,  which  had  been 
transferred  in  1822  to  Princeton.  This  they  did,  but  met 
with  no  encouragement,  and  the  Synod  got  along  as  best 
it  could  until  1829,  when  it  was  unanimously  resolved, 
"  That  the  present  time  is  the  proper  time  for  making  a 
beginning  in  this  good  work."  A  course  of  study  was 
adopted ;  Dr.  Joseph  McCarrell  was  chosen  principal  pro- 
fessor; Newburg,  N.  Y.,  was  selected  as  the  location;  and 
the  seminary  was  opened  in  the  autumn  with  several 
students. 


RETURN  OF  LIBRARY. 


209 


In  1830  it  was  resolved  to  make  another  effort  for  the 
restoration  of  the  alienated  library  and  funds.  A  memo- 
rial was  drafted  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  McCarrell 
and  John  Forsyth,  Esq.,  to  be  presented  to  the  next  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  It  was  also  determined  that  this  should 
be  the  last  application,  and  if  denied,  a  suit  in  the  civil 
court  should  be  instituted.  In  May,  1831,  the  commis- 
sioners appeared  before  the  Assembly,  and  their  memorial 
was  referred  to  a  special  committee,  which  brought  in  an 
adverse  report.  The  Assembly  did  not  adopt  this,  but 
referred  it  and  the  memorial  to  the  trustees  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Princeton,  with  power  to  act  according 
to  their  judgment.  The  trustees  declined  to  decide  upon 
the  claim,  and  referred  it  back  to  the  next  Assembly,  with 
their  advice  to  reject  it.  When  the  subject  came  up  in 
the  Assembly  of  1832  Dr.  McCarrell  was  again  present, 
and  asked  the  privilege  of  being  heard.  This  was  refused. 
The  reading  of  a  written  argument  prepared  by  him  was 
then  offered,  and  also  declined.  This  Assembly  was  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  different  members  from  that  of 
the  previous  year,  and  they  had  not  heard  a  single  word 
in  defense  of  the  claim ;  yet  they  refused  to  hear  anything 
upon  the  subject,  except  the  report  of  a  select  committee 
upon  the  opinion  or  paper  of  the  trustees  of  the  seminary. 
The  conclusion  was  soon  attained,  and  it  was  a  positive 
rejection.  This  shut  the  door  against  all  further  friendly 
negotiation,  and  a  suit  was  commenced  at  once  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  The  case 
lingered,  like  all  such  cases,  until  July,  1837,  when  the 
chancellor  decided  in  the  Synod's  favor  on  every  point 
presented  in  the  claim.  The  library  and  funds  were  at 
once  surrendered  and  transferred  to  Newburg. 

The  Synod  having  no  foreign  missionary  enterprise  of 
its  own,  some  of  its  ministers  and  congregations  identi- 


2IO 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  vi. 


fied  themselves  with  the  American  Board,  and  it  always 
dispensed  the  Lord's  Supper  during  its  annual  meeting. 
Participation  in  these  communion  services  became  a  prac- 
tical question  with  those  ministers  who  attended  its  meet- 
ings, one  of  whom  was  a  corporate  member  of  the  Board. 
In  1838  the  Synod  instructed  against  any  participation  on 
these  occasions — not  because  it  was  opposed  to  occasional 
communion  under  proper  circumstances,  but  because  the 
Board  made  all  the  arrangements  for  these  communion 
services,  thereby  implying  that  it  had  the  right  to  admin- 
ister the  sealing  ordinances  of  the  church,  and  also  because 
of  the  miscellaneous  character  of  the  faith  and  practice  of 
the  crowd  which  usually  partook  of  the  Supper. 

The  antislavery  feeling,  which  had  been  gradually  and 
steadily  growing  in  our  country  during  the  first  part  of 
this  century,  soon  showed  itself  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Synod.  Plain  people  cannot  comprehend  that  system  of 
ethics  which  divides  a  man's  identity  and  allows  him  to  do 
as  a  citizen  that  which  it  forbids  him  to  do  as  a  Christian. 
Memorials  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  began  to  come  up 
to  the  Synod  as  early  as  1837,  and  continued  to  come  for 
the  next  ten  or  twelve  years.  The  Synod  did  not,  how- 
ever, warm  up  to  the  subject  very  readily,  and  uniformly 
answered,  that,  having  no  connection  with  slavery  or 
slave  territory,  or  bodies  that  tolerated  slaveholding  mem- 
bers, there  was  no  call  for  a  judicial  or  ecclesiastical  utter- 
ance. This  refusal  to  speak  out  did  not  satisfy  the  con- 
sciences of  many  of  the  members  of  the  church,  who  felt 
that  the  cries  of  wronged  and  wounded  humanity  should 
be  heeded,  and  receive  at  least  the  recognition  and  sym- 
pathy of  all  God's  people.  Besides,  slavery,  in  its  relations 
and  its  spirit  of  extension,  had  become  -a  practical  ques- 
tion of  every-day  life,  far  beyond  its  territorial  boundaries. 
A  great  political  party,  known  as  the  "  Free- Soil,"  was 


THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION. 


21  I 


springing  into  existence,  specially  in  opposition  to  it ;  and 
on  the  other  side,  Congress  had  denied  the  right  of  petition 
on  this  subject,  and  had  passed  a  law  making  it  the  duty 
of  Northern  men  to  help  to  return  the  fugitive  slave  to 
his  Southern  master,  and  had  also  permitted  slavery  to  be 
carried  into  territory  hitherto  free. 

The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  moved  by  these  aggres- 
sions, memorialized  the  Synod  in  185  I  to  issue  a  testimony 
against  slavery  as  an  "  enormous  system  of  immorality." 
This  memorial  was  referred  to  a  special  committee,  and 
in  due  time  a  majority  report,  by  Dr.  Robert  Proudfit,  and 
a  minority  report,  by  Rev.  A.  Bowers,  were  brought  in. 
The  former  recommended  that  no  testimony  be  issued, 
and  the  principal  reasons  for  this  refusal  were  two,  and 
may  be  epitomized  thus :  First,  that  special  testimonies 
and  warnings,  according  to  the  custom  and  policy  of  our 
church,  were  issued  only  against  dangerous  errors  and 
gross  immoralities  prevailing  at  the  time,  and  within  the 
bounds  of  our  church ;  and  as  there  was  no  slavery  within 
the  bounds  of  our  Synod,  a  testimony  was  not  called  for. 
Second,  that  slavery  is  an  institution  wholly  under  the 
control  of  civil  authority  ;  and  however  iniquitous  in  its 
origin,  the  church  can  have  no  control  over  its  continu- 
ance, and  has  neither  the  right  nor  the  power  to  abolish  it, 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  being  not  of  this  world.  The  report 
ended  with  a  strong  protest  against  any  insinuation  that 
may  be  made  that  this  Synod  is  a  proslavery  Synod,  from 
either  its  former  or  its  present  action  on  this  subject.  This 
report  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  five,  and  it  is  worthy 
of  note  that  a  majority  of  the  affirmative  vote  was  given 
by  ruling  elders,  while  three  fourths  of  the  negative  were 
by  ministers.  Politics  had  unquestionably  much  to  do  in 
the  matter,  for  both  Whigs  and  Democrats  looked  upon 
the  Free-Soilers  with  much  disfavor. 


212 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  vi. 


The  question  at  issue,  however,  was  not  the  abstract 
right  or  wrong  of  slavery,  but  the  right  and  the  expediency 
of  issuing  testimonies  in  reference  to  civil  institutions.  It 
is  but  just  to  say  that  every  one  of  these  men  that  voted 
for  the  report  was  conscientiously  and  avowedly  opposed 
to  slavery.  The  acknowledged  leader,  who  spoke  for  two 
hours  against  synodic  action,  was  one  of  the  first  men  who 
joined  in  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  antagonizing  slavery.  He  did  so,  ac- 
cording to  his  theory,  as  a  citizen  in  the  performance  of  a 
civil  duty,  and  not  as  a  minister  in  the  discharge  of  an 
ecclesiastical  duty.  He  and  those  ministers  that  joined 
with  him  were  not  only  conservative  by  natural  tempera- 
ment, but  they  had  learned  in  their  youth  that  if  the  state 
must  not  handle  things  purely  ecclesiastical,  neither  must 
the  church  deal  with  civil  institutions.  They  held  that 
Christians  are  in  duty  bound  to  leaven  the  world  with 
their  spirit  and  thought,  and  that  they  must  do  this  not 
in  the  discharge  of  their  ecclesiastical  functions,  which  are 
for  those  that  are  within,  but  by  carrying  their  educated 
consciences  and  pure  morality  into  the  discharge  of  their 
duties  as  citizens ;  that  their  religion  should  dominate  their 
politics,  instead  of  allowing  their  politics  to  control  their 
religion.  They  would  not  vote  for  immoral  men,  and  be- 
lieved that  if  only  friends  of  Christ  were  put  into  office, 
the  world  would  soon  be  revolutionized  in  the  matter  of 
its  morality. 

While  the  union  movement  between  the  Associate  and 
the  Associate  Reformed  Churches  was  slowly  progressing, 
a  proposition  was  made  to  unite  the  two  Associate  Re- 
formed Synods,  that  of  New  York  and  the  General  Synod 
of  the  West,  into  one  organization.  This  was  easily  and 
quickly  done  in  1855,  upon  the  simple  basis  that,  possess- 
ing the  same  standards,  the  appellate  powers  of  the  new 


UNION  WITH  THE  WEST. 


213 


General  Synod  should  be  confined  exclusively  to  questions 
of  doctrine ;  and  that  all  institutions  and  property  belong- 
ing to  each  Synod  shall  so  remain  without  any  interference 
in  any  manner  by  the  General  Synod,  or  any  other  partic- 
ular Synod.  The  career  of  the  Synod  as  an  independent 
body  now  ceased,  and  it  has  since  continued  as  a  particular 
Synod,  subordinate  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  ASSOCIATE  REFORMED  SYNOD  OF  THE  WEST. 

We  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the  course  of 
the  first  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
for  various  reasons,  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  subordinate 
Synod  of  Scioto,  and  that  the  latter  in  1 8 1 8  proposed  to 
the  former  that  it  would  hold  its  meetings  in  a  more  central 
place  than  Philadelphia,  that  there  might  be  a  fuller  west- 
ern representation ;  or,  failing  in  this,  to  divide  the  church 
into  two  or  more  independent  Synods.  The  General  Synod 
refused  to  do  either,  and  then  appointed  a  commission, 
clothed  with  judicial  power,  to  go  to  Lexington  and  settle 
the  troubles  which  then  afflicted  the  Presbytery  of  Ken- 
tucky. When  men  have  once  tasted  power,  they  are  slow 
to  relinquish  it.  The  Synod  of  Scioto,  at  its  meeting  in 
the  autumn  of  1818,  gave  an  expression  of  its  feelings  by 
enjoining  its  Presbyteries  to  report  to  the  next  meeting 
their  judgment  whether  the  Synod  at  that  meeting  should 
constitute  itself  into  an  independent  Synod,  or  continue  to 
bear  its  grievances.  Guided  by  the  answers  of  its  Presby- 
teries, the  Synod  in  October,  18 19, 

Resolved,  That  the  next  meeting  of  this  Synod  be  held  at  ,  etc.,  and 

that  it  will  then  constitute  itself  into  an  independent  Synod,  declaring,  as  they 
hereby  declare,  their  strict  adherence  to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms,  Form  of  Church  Government,  and  Directories  of 
Worship,  as  received  at  Greencastle  on  the  31st  of  May,  1799,  and  uniformly 
acted  on  as  then  understood  till  the  year  181 1,  on  which  ground  they  will  re- 
ciprocate ministerial  and  Christian  communion  with  the  other  branches  of  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church. 

214 


ORGANIZATION  AND  FIELD. 


215 


The  Synod  held  its  next  meeting  at  Rush  Creek,  Fair- 
field County,  O.,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1820,  when  it  re- 
affirmed the  action  of  the  previous  meeting  by  but  two 
dissenting  votes,  and  then  re-constituted  itself  as  an  inde- 
pendent Synod,  under  the  name  of  The  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  of  the  West.  It  contained  the  three  Presbyteries  of 
Monongahela,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio,  whose  congregations 
were  scattered  all  along  from  the  Allegheny  Mountains  to 
the  Mississippi  River.  The  Presbytery  of  Kentucky  was, 
however,  very  feeble.  From  1800  to  18 10  the  counties 
lying  around  Lexington  constituted  not  only  the  garden 
spot  of  the  State,  but  also  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church.  This  region  gave  more  promise  of  a  rich  future 
to  the  church  than  almost  any  other  section  of  the  whole 
country.  The  congregations  were  comparatively  numer- 
ous; the  Academy  of  Kentucky  was  instituted  and  en- 
dowed by  the  State  with  four  thousand  five  hundred  acres 
of  land ;  a  majority  of  the  professors  in  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity were  ministers  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church ; 
even  subscriptions  were  offered  for  the  founding  of  a  west- 
ern theological  seminary  at  Lexington,  which  was  expected 
to  rival  the  one  in  New  York  under  Dr.  Mason ;  and  such 
pulpit  orators  as  Rankin,  Bishop,  and  McCord  were  very 
scarce  anywhere.  But,  unhappily,  brotherly  love  ceased 
to  flourish  among  these  brilliant  ministers,  and  jealousies 
and  dissensions  entered  the  Presbytery.  A  blight  soon 
passed  over  the  fair  prospects,  and  when  the  Synod  of  the 
West  was  organized  the  Academy  of  Kentucky  was  closed 
and  its  lands  all  lost,  the  University  of  Transylvania  was 
without  an  Associate  Reformed  professor,  the  congrega- 
tions shrunk  in  many  instances  to  skeletons,  and  William 
H.  Rainey  was  the  only  settled  pastor.  All  this  from  pure 
mismanagement  and  criminal  captiousness,  for  the  question 
of  slavery  had  not  yet  been  started  to  vex  the  churches, 


2l6 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap,  vil 


and  when  it  was,  a  few  years  later,  all  of  Kentucky  be- 
came lost  to  the  Synod. 

After  assuming  the  responsibilities  of  an  independent 
body,  the  members  of  the  Synod  soon  realized  that  the 
field  for  cultivation  was  very  large  and  that  the  laborers 
were  very  few.  The  number  of  congregations  was  twice 
that  of  the  ministers,  and  needy  and  uncared-for  commu- 
nities were  painfully  plenty.  Measures  were  soon  taken  to 
provide  for  the  training  of  young  ministers,  and  in  May, 
1825,  it  was  resolved  to  establish  a  theological  seminary 
in  Pittsburg,  with  Dr.  Joseph  Kerr  as  its  first  professor. 
This  institution  wis  opened  in  December,  and  still  exists, 
and  has  educated  nearly  one  thousand  young  men  for  the 
Christian  ministry.  A  second  theological  seminary  was 
instituted  in  1839,  at  Oxford,  O.,  over  which  Dr.  Joseph 
Claybaugh  was  first  called  to  preside. 

The  Synod  also  urged  upon  the  Presbyteries  the  neces- 
sity of  establishing  classical  schools  and  academies  within 
their  bounds,  that  they  might  become  feeders  to  the  semi- 
nary by  supplying  the  facilities  for  the  preparatory  edu- 
cation. Quite  a  number  of  such  schools  were  organized 
and  conducted  with  success,  and  proved  to  be  a  great 
blessing  both  to  the  church  and  also  to  the  communities  in 
which  they  were  located,  for  the  facilities  for  education 
were  yet  very  limited  in  many  sections  of  our  country. 
As  an  additional  inducement  and  help,  a  Young  Men 's  Fund 
was  established  in  1826,  to  aid  indigent  and  pious  young 
men  in  preparing  for  the  ministry.  From  it  young  men 
could  borrow  to  a  certain  amount  and  return  the  princi- 
pal within  a  certain  number  of  years,  without  the  payment 
of  any  interest.  It  was  the  best  the  church  could  then 
afford,  and  it  answered  its  purpose  well,  for  it  helped  and 
is  still  helping  many  students  into  the  ministry,  without 
doing  anything  toward  pauperizing  them  in  fact  or  in 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 


217 


spirit.  The  church  has  since  added  a  more  gratuitous 
scheme  of  assistance,  but  it  is  an  open  question  whether 
the  ministry  or  the  church  has  been  really  benefited 
thereby,  for  we  cherish  most  dearly  and  use  most  carefully 
that  which  costs  us  most.  Young  men  enter  other  pro- 
fessions and  lines  of  business  without  the  agency  of  organ- 
ized assistance,  and  they  are  all  the  better  for  it,  because 
the  development  of  character  and  the  habits  of  industry 
and  economy  acquired  in  so  doing  become  the  very  sources 
of  their  future  success.  Ministers  need  as  much  develop- 
ment and  stamina  of  character  as  any  other  class  of  men, 
and  whatever  helps  to  produce  these  is  a  positive  gain,  and 
to  be  nursed  too  tenderly  may  in  the  end  be  a  loss. 

One  of  the  Presbyteries  had  some  difficulty  in  determin- 
ing whether  the  organization  of  a  congregation  could  be 
completed  without  deacons,  and  referred  the  question  in 
1824  to  the  Synod.  The  matter  was  kept  under  con- 
sideration for  a  number  of  years,  and  then  indefinitely 
postponed.  The  prevailing  opinion  in  Synod  seemed  to 
be,  that,  as  every  lower  office  is  included  in  those  above, 
and  as  the  apostles  did  not  evolve  the  office  of  deacon  till 
the  ministrations  to  the  poor  became  so  burdensome  as  to 
require  a  distinct  class  of  men  to  conduct  them,  so  every 
congregation  should  be  left  to  determine  for  itself  when  it 
may  become  necessary  to  evolve  the  office  of  deacon  out 
of  the  office  of  ruling  elder,  and  that  the  condition  of  one 
congregation  should  not  be  a  law  unto  another. 

There  was  a  time  when  much  of  the  earnest,  active 
antislavery  sentiment  in  the  country  existed  in  the  slave- 
holding  States.  Those  who  gave  the  original  impulse  to 
the  antislavery  sentiment  in  this  Synod  were  principally 
those  who  had  emigrated  from  the  South.  At  a  meeting 
of  the  Synod  at  Chillicothe,  O.,  in  May,  1826,  a  memorial 
upon  the  subject  of  slavery  came  up  from  Hopwell,  Preble 


218 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  vii. 


County,  0.,  from  a  congregation  which  had  come  as  a 
colony  from  South  Carolina.  This  started  a  series  of  dis- 
cussions, which  passed  from  Synod  to  Synod  until  1830, 
when  the  following  was  adopted : 

1.  That  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  requires  that  involuntary  slavery  should 
be  removed  from  the  church  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  in  the  providence  of 
God  is  offered  to  slave-owners  for  the  liberation  of  their  slaves. 

2.  That  when  there  are  no  regulations  of  the  State  to  prohibit  it,  when 
provision  can  be  made  for  the  support  of  the  freedmen,  when  they  can  be 
placed  in  circumstances  to  support  the  rank,  enjoy  the  rights,  and  discharge 
the  duties  of  freedmen,  it  shall  be  considered  that  such  an  opportunity  is 
afforded  in  the  providence  of  God. 

3.  That  the  Synod  will,  as  it  hereby  does,  recommend  it  to  all  its  members 
to  aid  in  placing  the  slaves  which  are  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  Synod  in 
the  possession  of  their  rights  as  freedmen ;  and  that  it  be  recommended  to 
them  especially  to  take  up  annual  collections  to  aid  the  funds  of  the  American 
society  for  colonizing  the  free  people  of  color  in  the  United  States. 

4.  That  the  practice  of  buying  or  selling  slaves  for  gain  by  any  member  of 
this  church  be  disapproved,  and  that  slave-owners  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Synod  be,  as  they  hereby  are,  forbidden  all  aggravations  of  the  evils  of 
slavery  by  violating  the  ties  of  nature,  the  separation  of  husband  and  wife, 
parents  and  children,  or  by  cruel  or  unkind  treatment ;  and  that  they  shall 
not  only  treat  them  well,  but  also  instruct  them  in  useful  knowledge  and  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  in  all  respects  treat  them  as  enjoined 
upon  masters  toward  their  servants  by  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Synod  in  1838  explained  the  second  resolution 
by  declaring,  "  That  an  opportunity  in  the  providence  of 
God  shall  be  considered  as  afforded  when  the  master  can 
emancipate  his  slave  and  place  him  in  circumstances  where 
he  shall  not  be  liable  to  be  immediately  sold  into  bondage." 
And  in  1839  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  were 
passed  in  reference  to  the  third  resolution  : 

As  there  are  two  conflicting  societies  operating  in  the  community — the  Col- 
onization and  the  Antislavery  Societies — and  as  this  Synod  has  recommended 
the  former  to  the  patronage  of  the  churches  under  its  care,  and  as  it  is  desir- 
able the  Synod  should  keep  clear  of  this  excitement,  and  as  the  church  should 
not  be  involved  by  the  operation  of  bodies  over  which  it  has  no  control ; 
therefore,  Resolved,  That  this  Synod  withdraws  the  recommendation  formerly 
given  to  the  Colonization  Society. 


'  ACTION  ANENT  SLAVERY.  2ig 

Public  opinion  in  later  days  regarded  the  resolutions  of 
1830  as  a  very 'mild  condemnation  of  slavery,  while  they 
were  in  reality  a  very  advanced  attainment  upon  this  sub- 
ject at  the  time  when  they  were  passed ;  and  their  wisdom 
was  vindicated  by  their  fruits,  for  they  served  their  pur- 
pose so  well  that  the  growing  antislavery  sentiment  of  the 
church  never  sought  to  disturb  them,  giving  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  fact  that  a  mild  law  faithfully  executed  is 
always  more  efficacious  for  good  than  a  severer  law  imper- 
fectly enforced.  The  Synod  was  in  earnest,  and  did  de- 
sign to  execute  all  that  it  had  enacted,  for  in  1832  it  issued 
a  Letter  of  Warning,  and  spoke  of  these  resolutions  thus : 

Now,  brethren,  it  is  expected  that  the  foregoing  resolutions  will  not  be  as 
a  dead  letter,  but  be  respected  and  reduced  to  practice.  It  is  expected  that 
sessions  and  presbyteries  will  see  them  enforced.  It  is  expected  that  slave- 
owners in  the  church  will  make  conscience  of  seeking  and  improving  oppor- 
tunities, and  the  very  first  which  offer,  of  liberating  their  slaves.  It  is 
expected  that  in  the  meantime  they  will  give  satisfactory  evidence  to  their  re- 
spective sessions  that  they  do  consider  slavery  a  moral  evil,  and  that  they  do 
truly  desire  to  get  rid  of  it  as  soon  as  they  can,  and  that  it  is  their  intention 
to  embrace  the  first  opportunity  which  God  in  his  providence  shall  give  them 
for  so  doing.  And  it  is  expected  of  sessions  that  they  will  require  this  of 
slave-owning  church-members  or  applicants. 

The  abduction  of  Morgan  in  1826  produced  a  very 
sudden  and  very  violent  anti-masonic  excitement  through- 
out the  whole  country,  and  it  made  its  appearance  in  Synod 
in  1829,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Monongahela,  and  perhaps  fully  as  much  in  the  interest 
of  a  political  party,  then  forming,  as  in  vindication  and 
furtherance  of  the  truth.  The  Synod  did  not  enter  into 
any  extended  discussion  of  the  abstract  question  of  the 
right  or  wrong  of  masonry,  but  instituted  an  inquiry  to 
see  how  far  the  church  was  contaminated  with  it.  Find- 
ing that  the  churches  of  the  Synod  were  virtually  free 
from  it,  the  following  action  was  taken : 


220 


THE  UNITED  PRE  SB  YTERIA  A  rS.        [Chap.  VU. 


Whereas  a  reference  from  the  Presbytery  of  Monongahela,  relative  to 
masonry,  has  been  brought  before  this  Synod ;  and  Whereas  it  is  believed 
that  the  practice  of  freemasonry  is  contrary  to  the  standards  of  this  church ; 
and  Whereas,  on  inquiry  being  made,  it  has  been  ascertained  that  the  several 
ministers  of  this  Synod  are  in  the  practice  of  detaining  from  sealing  ordi- 
nances those  who  take  unlawful  oaths  :  therefore,  Resolved,  That  the  Synod 
take  no  further  notice  of  the  subject. 

The  matter  of  secret  societies,  in  a  more  general  form, 
came  before  the  General  Synod  in  1846,  when  the  follow- 
ing action  was  taken : 

1.  Whereas  the  Society  of  Odd  Fellows  has  been  and  still  is  making 
special  efforts  to  revive  and  secure  popular  favor  to  the  principle  of  secret  as- 
sociations, and  especially  to  give  the  appearance  of  morality  and  religion  by 
the  names  of  ministers  of  the  gospel;  and  Whereas  we  regard  the  principle 
itself  as  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  true  Christianity  and  highly  danger- 
ous to  our  civil  institutions  :  therefore,  Resolved,  That  this  Synod  do  hereby 
express  its  disapprobation  of  said  society,  and  warn  our  people  that  persist- 
ence in  a  connection  with  it  must  subject  such  as  do  so  to  the  discipline  of 
the  church. 

2.  Whereas  the  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  though  having  a  more 
simple  object  and  free  from  oaths,  is  nevertheless  organized  on  the  principle 
of  secret  associations,  and  thereby  sanctioning  it ;  therefore,  Resolved,  That, 
in  the  judgment  of  this  Synod,  it  is  the  duty  of  professing  Christians  to  stand 
aloof  from  its  entanglements,  and  not  to  give  it  their  sanction  or  encourage- 
ment. 

The  custom  of  the  country  in  the  early  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  not  only  permitted  the  use  of  spirituous 
liquors  as  a  beverage,  but  almost  exacted  it  as  a  token  of 
hospitality.  Friendship  would  not  withhold  the  cup,  and 
would  scarcely  even  allow  its  rejection.  Even  ministers 
in  the  performance  of  their  pastoral  duties  were  expected 
to  drink,  and  were  often  urged  to  do  so,  and  this  was  the 
secret  of  the  fall  of  not  a  few  of  them.  Against  all  this 
the  conscience  of  good  and  thoughtful  men  finally  revolted, 
and  a  great  temperance  movement  was  inaugurated.  The 
Synod  gave  its  first  deliverance  upon  this  subject  in  1834, 
in  the  passage  of  the  following  resolutions : 


TEMPERANCE—  TESTIMONIES.  2 2  I 

1.  That  the  practice  of  using  ardent  spirits  as  a  drink,  or  mode  of  express- 
ing our  hospitality  to  a  friend,  is  calculated  to  do  much  injury  to  society,  and, 
in  view  of  the  benevolent  effort  now  in  progress  for  the  suppression  of  intem- 
perance, is  calculated  to  expose  the  Christian  character  to  reproach ;  and, 
therefore,  that  it  be  recommended  to  all  the  members  of  the  churches  under 
our  care  to  abstain  from  it. 

2.  That  while  it  is  not  maintained  that  the  manufacture  and  vending  of 
ardent  spirits  are,  in  themselves,  immoral,  yet,  in  consideration  of  the  very 
general  abuse  of  the  article,  it  is  recommended  to  all  under  our  care  to  abstain 
from  both. 

3.  That  while  it  is  the  province  of  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  alone,  under 
the  divine  blessing,  to  produce  and  promote  temperance  as  a  Christian  grace, 
and  while  it  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  individuals  to  promote  the  cause  of 
temperance  as  a  social  virtue  in  that  mode  which  to  them  may  appear  most 
efficacious,  yet  a  temperance  society,  established  upon  proper  principles,  is 
well  calculated  to  promote  this  latter  kind  of  temperance,  and  is  not  liable  to 
any  serious  objections. 

These  same  views  were  reaffirmed  in  1841,  in  language 
more  positive  and  emphatic. 

The  scarcity  of  men  and  money  compelled  the  Synod 
to  cultivate  its  home  missionary  field  just  as  it  could  and 
without  any  well-defined  system.  Every  pastor  gave  a 
portion  of  his  time  to  vacancies  and  destitute  places  in  his 
own  neighborhood  or  Presbytery,  and  occasionally  one  or 
more  were  taken  from  their  charges  and  sent  for  months 
on  a  tour  of  missionary  exploration.  But  an  increase  of 
resources  called  for  some  system  which  would  secure 
greater  efficiency.  After  much  consideration  and  some 
experimenting  it  was  finally  agreed  to  leave  the  disposal 
of  all  licentiates  and  unsettled  ministers  to  a  Committee  of 
Missions,  to  be  composed  of  one  member  from  each  Pres- 
bytery, which  was  to  meet  annually  before  or  during  the 
meeting  of  the  Synod,  and  make  a  distribution  of  ministers 
to  the  different  Presbyteries  according  to  their  need,  and 
to  fix  the  amounts  of  money  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
places  needing  help.  The  whole  to  be  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Synod. 


222 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap,  vii. 


In  the  constitution  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church 
provision  was  made  for  the  emitting  of  occasional  testi- 
monies from  time  to  time  to  protect  the  doctrinal  purity 
and  practical  piety  of  the  church  from  prevailing  errors 
and  immoralities.  In  accordance  with  this  the  Synod  in 
1825  prepared  and  issued  an  exhaustive  and  elaborate 
testimony  against  "  Hopkinsian,  Socinian,  and  semi-Socin- 
ian  errors  as  prevalent  in  the  present  day."  Other  testi- 
monies of  this  kind  were  issued  in  1832:  one  in  reference 
to  the  Sabbath ;  another  upon  revivals  as  conducted  with 
the  anxious-bench  machinery  ;  another  upon  evil  speaking; 
and  another  upon  slavery;  and  still  another  in  1853,  "on 
the  neglected  duty  of  honoring  the  Lord  with  our  sub- 
stance." This  last  would  be  seasonable  at  any  time,  and 
concludes  thus : 

The  following  opinions  are  of  bad  practical  tendency,  and  as  such  we  con- 
demn them,  and  testify  against  them  : 

1.  That  the  common  education  of  children  and  domestics  maybe  neglected 
without  sin,  and  that  we  are  under  no  obligation  to  assist  in  the  education  of 
other  children  than  our  own. 

2.  That  we  are  not  obliged  to  assist  the  poor,  unless  they  are  church- 
members  and  worthy  persons. 

3.  That  we  are  not  bound  to  assist  with  our  substance  in  relieving  the  op- 
pressed, unless  we  personally  assisted  in  inflicting  the  oppression. 

4.  That  it  is  either  sinful  or  dangerous  to  assist  societies  which  are  moral 
and  benevolent  in  their  character  and  operations. 

5.  That  Christians  may  discharge  all  their  duties  and  yet  neglect  to  sup- 
port the  gospel  as  God  has  prospered  them. 

6.  That  men  have  no  rule  but  their  own  fancy  and  pleasure  to  guide  them 
in  supporting  the  gospel  and  aiding  benevolent  societies. 

The  Synod  felt  that  the  foreign  missionary  cause  had 
claims  upon  it,  and  after  much  deliberation  concluded  in 
1837  to  engage  in  the  work  to  the  extent  of  its  ability, 
and  planned  to  send  Rev.  W.  Blain  to  India,  to  join  in 
the  same  mission  with  Mr.  McEwen,  who  had  been  sent 
there  by  the  Synod  of  New  York.     But  before  all  neces- 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS— CHURCH  VOTES.  223 


sary  arrangements  could  be  made  Mr.  McEwen's  health 
failed  and  he  was  compelled  to  return,  and  the  enterprise 
was  abandoned.  The  Synod,  however,  felt  that  there  was 
a  neglected  duty  in  the  matter.  Denominational  mission- 
ary boards  had  not  yet  been  established,  and  nearly  all  the 
missionary  work  done  outside  of  the  American  Board  was 
done  through  the  agency  of  local  voluntary  societies.  The 
Mercer  County  (Pa.)  Society  was  of  this  kind,  and  was 
composed  of  members  of  the  Presbyterian,  the  Associate, 
the  Associate  Reformed,  and  the  Covenanter  Churches. 
In  1 84 1  the  General  Synod  requested  its  ministers,  as 
speedily  as  possible,  to  take  up  collections  to  be  appro- 
priated to  the  support  of  Rev.  J.  R.  Campbell,  who  had 
been  sent  to  India,  in  1835,  by  this  society.  This  was  felt 
to  be  only  temporary,  and  did  not  give  full  satisfaction, 
so  in  1842  the  Synod  "Resolved,  That  we  will  endeavor,  in 
reliance  on  the  great  Head  of  the  church,  to  send  out  at 
least  one  missionary  to  Palestine,  by  the  1st  of  October, 
1844."  In  the  winter  of  1844-45  Rev.  J.  Barnett  and  his 
brother-in-law,  J.  G.  Paulding,  M.D.,  sailed  for  Syria,  and 
located  in  Damascus.  The  Synod  continued  actively  and 
successfully  in  this  foreign  field. 

The  Synod  of  the  West  became  unwieldy  because  of 
the  extent  of  its  territory,  which  was  stretching  out  rapidly 
toward  the  west.  As  a  matter  of  relief  the  Synod  con- 
cluded in  1839  to  divide  into  two  Synods,  the  First  and 
the  Second  (and  subsequently  Illinois),  subordinate  to  a 
General  Synod,  composed  of  delegates  from  the  Presby- 
teries. A  number  of  ministers  still  lived  who  had  mingled 
in  the  troubles  of  the  old  General  Synod,  and  to  guard 
against  the  things  that  proved  its  ruin,  it  was  provided 
that  "  the  General  Synod  shall  have  no  appellate  juris- 
diction except  in  cases  of  doctrine  "  ;  and  also,  "  that  the 
General  Synod  in  all  matters  overtured  to  the  Presbyteries 


224 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  vn. 


shall  be  governed  in  their  decision  by  the  majority  of  the 
entire  vote  of  the  church  thus  obtained."  That  is,  that 
Presbyteries  shall  not  be  counted  as  units  in  their  answer 
to  overtures,  but  that  the  votes  in  the  Presbyteries  should 
be  reported,  and  a  majority  of  these  should  govern  the 
action  of  the  Synod,  so  that  it  may  -be  the  voice  of  the 
church. 

The  constitution  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  had 
always  confined  the  right  of  voting  for  a  pastor  to  male 
communicants.  The  justice  of  this  restriction  was  often 
called  in  question,  so  the  whole  matter  of  voting  in  things 
spiritual  and  things  temporal  was  overtured  to  the  Pres- 
byteries. In  accordance  with  the  answers  returned  it  was 
in  i353 

Resolved^  That  Synod  affirm  that  the  right  of  voting  for  pastors  is  now  ex- 
tended to  all  communing  members  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 

Resolved,  That,  in  accordance  with  the  vote  of  the  several  Presbyteries,  the 
extension  of  the  privilege  of  voting  in  the  temporalities  of  the  church  to  pew- 
holders  and  those  supporting  the  ordinances  be  left  discretionary  with  the 
Sessions. 

As  already  stated  elsewhere,  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  of  New  York  and  the  General  Synod  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Church  of  the  West  were  united  in  1856; 
but  this  new  organization  continued  only  for  three  years, 
when  it  formed  a  union  with  the  Associate  Synod  and 
constituted  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  Its  contri- 
bution to  the  united  body  was  240  ministers,  360  congre- 
gations, and  over  30,000  communicants. 

These  uniting  bodies  sprang  from  the  same  source,  ever 
saw  eye  to  eye  in  all  that  pertained  to  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship, worked  along  the  same  lines,  operated  upon  the  same 
classes  of  society,  mingled  together  in  the  same  commu- 
nities, and  entertained  friendly  relations  with  each  other,  and 
the  wonder  always  was  why  they  remained  apart  so  long. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  UNION  OF  1 858. 

In  1837  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Church  proposed  a  conference  to  see  if  something 
could  be  done  to  bring  the  different  branches  of  the  Scot- 
tish dissenters  in  this  country  into  closer  relations.  In 
response  to  this  invitation,  delegates  from  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Synod  and  from  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synods  of  New  York  and  the  West  met  in  1838,  in*  Pitts- 
burg, to  talk  over  the  matter  and  find  out  what  difficulties 
might  be  in  the  way.  The  social  and  Christian  intercourse 
of  the  delegates  was  so  pleasant  and  enjoyable  that  they 
made  provision  for  future  conferences  of  the  same  kind. 
In  1842  the  Associate  Synod  joined  in  and  sent  delegates 
also.  After  several  days'  interchange  of  views,  it  was 
clearly  ascertained  that  there  existed  a  remarkable  degree 
of  harmony,  and  the  following  resolution  was  unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved,  That,  having  discussed  the  prominent  subjects  upon  which  a 
diversity  of  sentiment  was  apprehended  to  exist,  it  appears  there  is  such  a 
degree  of  unanimity  on  these  subjects  that  there  is  encouragement  for  the 
convention  to  take  further  measures  toward  a  visible  ecclesiastical  union. 

By  this  time  it  became  very  evident  that  there  was 
no  greater  difference  in  the  views  of  the  delegates  of  the 
different  churches  than  existed  among  the  ministers  of 
any  one  of  them,  and  that,  in  the  event  of  a  union,  no 
church  would  be  called  upon  to  tolerate  in  those  from 
other  churches  anything  more  than  what  was  already  tol- 

225 


226 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  vhi. 


erated  in  its  own.  There  was  in  reality  no  difference  in 
doctrines  and  worship,  and  the  only  difficulties  hinged 
upon  the  modes  of  expression  and  the  methods  of  exhibi- 
tion. Each  party,  from  long  use,  had  become  attached  to 
its  own  mode,  and  felt  reluctant  to  make  any  change.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  Associate  Reformed  Church 
at  its  organization  altered  those  portions  of  the  Confession 
of  Faith  which  define  the  powers  of  the  civil  government 
circa  sacra  so  as  to  make  them  express  clearly  the  belief 
of  the  church.  The  Associate  and  the  Reformed  Churches 
retained  the  original  text  in  their  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
then  in  their  "Testimony"  explained  the  sense  in  which 
they  received  it.  Yet  all  these  churches  held  a  common 
doctrine,  and  only  differed  as  to  where  and  how  they 
should  proclaim  it.  The  Associate  Reformed  Church 
held  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  Presbyte- 
rial  Form  of  Government,  and  Directory  of  Worship  as  her 
fixed  testimony,  and  also  promised  to  emit  occasional  tes- 
timonies in  defense  of  the  truth  and  in  opposition  to  error, 
as  occasions  might  require.  The  other  churches  added  to 
these  standards  a  "  Narrative  "  and  "  Judicial  Testimony  " 
as  being  of  equal  authority.  All  the  churches  held  the 
doctrine  in  common  that  the  church  must  bear  witness  for 
the  truth  and  against  error.  The  difference  consisted  only 
in  the  manner  or  method  of  doing  so.  As  no  principle 
was  involved,  some  compromise  in  the  matter  of  preference 
must  be  made,  and  it  was  finally  agreed : 

That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  convention,  a  union  between  the  bodies  here 
represented  can  be  effected  only  by  an  alteration  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith  in  the  twentieth,  the  twenty-third,  and  the  thirty-first  chap- 
ters, and  the  adoption  of  a  "Judicial  Testimony"  against  prevailing  and 
dangerous  errors  of  the  present  times. 

Two  bases  of  union  were  drafted  according  to  the  above 
direction,  and  presented  and  discussed  at  succeeding  con- 


CONVENTIONS  ABANDONED. 


227 


ventions,  but  both  proved  to  be  unsatisfactory.  There 
developed  two  parties:  the  one  insisted  upon  a  compre- 
hensive and  argumentative  testimony,  while  the  other  was 
equally  firm  in  contending  for  a  brief  and  simple  "  Testi- 
mony," easily  comprehended  by  the  people.  Neither  would 
yield  their  convictions,  and  the  future  became  unpromis- 
ing. Those  that  most  earnestly  desired  the  union  became 
thoroughly  satisfied,  from  past  experience,  that  the  present 
method  of  procedure  would  never  accomplish  the  object 
desired,  and  that  the  whole  business  had  better  be  begun 
anew.  Nine  annual  conventions  had  been  held,  and  the 
difficulties  to  be  removed  were  positively  increasing  in- 
stead of  diminishing.  And  what  else  could  be  expected? 
Every  convention  gave  the  first  and  best  part  of  its  labors 
to  the  hunting  up  of  difficulties  and  differences  of  views. 
If  enough  of  these  could  not  be  readily  found,  little  things 
were  magnified,  and  mole-hills  were  made  into  mountains, 
so  as  to  accomplish  the  work.  There  was  never  any 
greater  diversity  of  views  among  the  different  delegates 
at  any  of  the  meetings  than  was  to  be  found  among  the 
ministers  of  each  one  of  the  bodies  represented ;  and  if 
slight  differences  could  be  tolerated  in  the  Synod,  why 
not  in  the  convention  and  in  the  united  body  ?  But  the 
negotiations  had  generally  been  confined  to  a  few  theo- 
logical experts,  and  they  must  sustain  their  reputation  and 
develop  shades  of  differences,  without  paying  any  atten- 
tion to  the  almost  endless  catalogue  of  agreements.  The 
necessary  results  of  such  hypercriticism  were  suspicion,  dis- 
trust, an  improper  magnifying  of  little  things,  and  a  wrangle 
over  metaphysical  abstractions  which  should  never  appear 
in  the  creed  of  any  church.  A  cordial  union  could  never  be 
effected  by  such  means.  The  scalpel  and  the  microscope 
must  give  place  to  softer,  warmer,  and  gentler  agencies. 
Conventions  by  delegations  were  in  1848  abandoned, 


228 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  viii. 


but  the  effort  for  union  wa's  by  no  means  given  up.  Ex- 
pectation had  been  excited  in  the  churches,  a  friendly 
feeling  had  been  developed,  and  the  heart  of  the  people 
was  warmed  up,  so  that  they  really  yearned  for  union  and 
close  brotherly  fellowship.  Hitherto  the  effort  had  been 
confined  substantially  to  the  agency  of  the  head,  and  some 
new  method  must  be  instituted  which  would  keep  the 
negotiations  nearer  to  the  heart  of  the  people.  Henceforth 
the  work  was  confined  to  synodic  assemblies,  where  all 
the  ministers  and  many  of  the  elders  could  have  a  voice. 
When  conventions  were  abandoned  the  Reformed  Pres- 
byterians withdrew  from  any  further  negotiations,  but  a 
regular  correspondence  between  the  synods  of  the  Asso- 
ciate and  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches  was  com- 
menced, which  finally  terminated  in  the  offer  of  a  Basis 
of  Union  by  the  former  in  1856  to  the  latter,  which  was 
overtured  to  the  Presbyteries,  and  adopted  in  1857  by  the 
General  Synod. 

The  Associate  Synod  in  tendering  this  basis  stated  that 
in  the  "  Testimony  "  the  declarations  only  were  authorita- 
tive, and  that  the  argument  and  the  illustrations  which 
accompanied  each  declaration  were  only  useful  guides  to 
the  meaning  of  the  declarations.  The  General  Synod  in 
accepting  the  basis  responded  thus : 

The  Associate  Reformed  Church  does  hereby  declare  her  acceptance  of  the 
"Testimony"  proposed  as  a  basis  of  union  by  the  Associate  Synod,  and 
overtured  by  the  General  Synod  of  1856  to  the  Presbyteries,  in  the  confidence 
that  any  modifications  or  amendments  necessary  to  harmonize  said  basis  with 
the  faith  and  practice  held  in  common  by  the  two  churches,  or  render  it  more 
entirely  acceptable,  will  be  in  due  time  effected  by  the  United  Church,  and 
in  the  confidence  that  reasonable  forbearance  will  be  exercised  toward  any 
member  of  either  body  that  may  feel  constrained  to  dissent  from  any  article 
in  the  basis. 

The  Basis  of  Union  thus  agreed  upon  was  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  with  a  modification  in  refer- 


THE  "  TESTIMONY. 


229 


ence  to  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  circa  sacra,  so 
as  to  free  it  from  all  Erastianism,  the  Catechisms,  Larger 
and  Shorter,  and  a  "Judicial  Testimony."  The  Directory 
for  Worship  and  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  both  churches 
were  allowed  to  be  used  until  others  should  be  prepared. 
The  "Judicial  Testimony"  covered  important  subjects 
which  had  not  been  embraced  in  the  Confession,  or  not 
sufficiently  elaborated  to  meet  present  circumstances.  It 
consists  of  eighteen  declarations,  with  arguments  and  illus- 
trations. The  arguments  and  illustrations  are  only  designed 
to  be  useful  helps,  and  not  as  authoritative  utterances. 
These  declarations  are  as  follows : 

1.  We  declare,  That  God  has  not  only  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  made  a  revelation  of  his  will  to  man  as  the  only  rule  of 
faith  and  practice,  but  that  these  Scriptures,  viewed  as  a  revelation  from 
God,  are  in  every  part  the  inspired  Word  of  God,  and  that  this  inspiration 
extends  to  the  language  as  well  as  to  the  sentiments  which  they  express. 

2.  We  declare,  That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  not  only  true  and  supreme 
God,  being  one  in  essence  with  the  Father,  but  also  the  Son  of  God,  in  re- 
spect to  his  natural,  necessary,  and  eternal  relation  to  the  Father. 

3.  We  declare,  That  God,  having  created  man  in  a  state  of  perfect  holiness 
and  in  possession  of  a  perfect  ability  to  obey  him  in  all  things,  did  enter  into 
a  covenant  with  him,  in  which  covenant  Adam  was  the  representative  of  all 
his  natural  posterity,  so  that  in  him  they  were  to  stand  or  fall  as  he  stood 
or  fell. 

4.  We  declare,  That  our  first  parents  did,  by  their  breach  of  covenant  with 
God,  subject  themselves  to  his  eternal  wrath,  and  bring  themselves  into  such 
a  state  of  depravity  as  to  be  wholly  inclined  to  sin,  and  altogether  unable  by 
their  own  power  to  perform  a  single  act  of  acceptable  obedience  to  God ;  and 
that  all  their  natural  posterity,  in  virtue  of  their  representation  in  the  covenant, 
are  born  into  the  world  in  the  same  state  of  guilt,  depravity,  and  inability, 
and  in  this  state  will  continue  until  delivered  therefrom  by  the  grace  and 
righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

5.  We  declare,  That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  did,  by  the  appointment  of  the 
Father,  and  by  his  own  gracious  and  voluntary  act,  place  himself  in  the  room 
of  a  definite  number,  who  were  chosen  in  him  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  so  that  he  was  their  true  and  proper  legal  security ;  and  as  such  did, 
in  their  behalf,  satisfy  the  justice  of  God,  and  answer  all  the  demands  which 
the  law  had  against  them,  and  thereby  infallibly  obtain  for  them  eternal  re- 
demption. 


230 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  viii. 


6.  We  declare,  That  in  justification  there  is  an  imputation  to  the  believer 
of  that  righteousness,  or  satisfaction  and  obedience,  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  the  surety  of  his  people,  rendered  to  the  law ;  and  that  it  is  only 
on  the  ground  of  this  imputed  righteousness  that  his  sins  are  pardoned  and 
his  person  accepted  in  the  sight  of  God. 

7.  We  declare,  That  the  gospel,  taken  in  its  strict  and  proper  sense,  as 
distinguished  from  the  law,  is  a  revelation  of  grace  to  sinners  as  such,  and 
that  it  contains  a  free  and  unconditional  offer  and  grant  of  salvation  through 
Christ  to  all  who  hear  it,  whatever  may  be  their  character  or  condition. 

8.  We  declare,  That  in  true  and  saving  faith  there  is  not  merely  an  assent 
of  the  mind  to  the  proposition  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of 
sinners,  but  also  a  cordial  reception  and  appropriation  of  him  by  the  sinner 
as  his  Saviour,  with  an  accompanying  persuasion  or  assurance  corresponding 
to  the  degree  or  strength  of  his  faith  that  he  shall  be  saved  by  him,  which 
appropriation  and  persuasion  are  founded  solely  upon  the  free  and  uncon- 
ditional and  unlimited  offer  of  Christ  and  salvation  in  him  which  God  makes 
in  the  gospel  to  sinners  of  mankind. 

9.  We  declare,  That  the  repentance  which  is  a  saving  grace  is  one  of  the 
fruits  of  a  justifying  faith,  and  of  course  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  ground  of 
the  sinner's  pardon,  or  as  necessary  to  qualify  him  for  coming  to  Christ. 

10.  We  declare,  That  although  the  moral  law  is  of  perpetual  obligation, 
and  consequently  does  and  ever  will  bind  the  believer  as  a  rule  of  life,  yet  as 
a  covenant  he  is  by  his  justification  through  Christ  completely  and  forever 
set  free  from  it,  both  as  to  its  commanding  and  condemning  power,  and  con- 
sequently not  required  to  yield  obedience  to  it  as  a  condition  of  life  and  sal- 
vation. 

11.  We  declare,  That  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity, 
does,  by  a  direct  operation  accompanying  the  Word,  so  act  upon  the  soul  as 
to  quicken,  regenerate,  and  sanctify  it ;  and  that  without  this  direct  operation 
the  soul  would  have  no  ability  to  perceive  in  a  saving  manner  the  truths  of 
God's  Word  or  yield  to  the  motives  which  it  presents. 

12.  We  declare,  That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  besides  the  dominion  which 
belongs  to  him  as  God,  has,  as  our  God-man  Mediator,  a  twofold  dominion 
with  which  he  has  been  invested  by  the  Father,  as  the  reward  of  his  suffer- 
ings. These  are:  a  dominion  over  the  church,  of  which  he  is  the  living 
Head  and  Law-giver,  and  Source  of  all  that  divine  influence  and  authority 
by  which  she  is  sustained  and  governed;  and  also  a  dominion  over  all  created 
persons  and  things,  which  is  exercised  by  him  in  subserviency  to  the  mani- 
festation of  God's  glory  in  the  system  of  redemption  and  the  interests  of  his 
church. 

13.  We  declare,  That  the  law  of  God,  as  written  upon  the  heart  of  man, 
and  as  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  is  supreme 
in  its  authority  and  obligations,  and  that  where  the  commands  of  the  church 
or  state  are  in  conflict  with  the  commands  of  this  law,  we  are  to  obey  God 
rather  than  man. 


THE  UNION  CONSUMMATED. 


231 


14.  We  declare,  That  slaveholding — that  is,  the  holding  of  unoffending 
human  beings  in  involuntary  bondage,  and  considering  and  treating  them  as 
property,  and  subject  to  be  bought  and  sold — is  a  violation  of  the  law  of 
God,  and  contrary  both  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  Christianity. 

15.  We  declare,  That  all  associations,  whether  formed  for  political  or  be- 
nevolent purposes,  which  impose  upon  their  members  an  oath  of  secrecy  or 
an  obligation  to  obey  a  code  of  unknown  laws,  are  inconsistent  with  the 
genius  and  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  church-members  ought  not  to  have  fel- 
lowship with  such  associations. 

16.  We  declare,  That  the  church  should  not  extend  communion,  in  sealing 
ordinances,  to  those  who  refuse  adherence  to  her  profession  or  subjection  to 
her  government  and  discipline,  or  who  refuse  to  forsake  a  communion  which 
is  inconsistent  with  the  profession  that  she  makes ;  nor  should  communion  in 
any  ordinance  of  worship  be  held  under  such  circumstances  as  would  be  in- 
consistent with  keeping  of  these  ordinances  pure  and  entire,  or  so  as  to  give 
countenance  to  any  corruption  of  the  doctrines  and  institutions  of  Christ. 

17.  We  declare,  That  public  social  covenanting  is  a  moral  duty,  the  ob- 
servance of  which  is  not  required  at  stated  times,  but  on  extraordinary  oc- 
casions, as  the  providence  of  God  and  the  circumstances  of  the  church  may 
indicate.  It  is  seasonable  in  times  of  great  danger  to  the  church,  in  times 
of  exposure  to  backsliding,  or  in  times  of  reformation,  when  the  church  is 
returning  to  God  from  a  state  of  backsliding.  When  the  church  has  entered 
into  such  covenant  transactions,  they  continue  to  bind  posterity  faithfully  to 
adhere  to  and  prosecute  the  grand  object  for  which  such  engagements  have 
been  entered  into. 

18.  We  declare,  That  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  the  songs  contained  in  the 
Book  of  Psalms  be  sung  in  his  worship,  both  public  and  private,  to  the  end 
of  the  world ;  and  in  singing  God's  praise  these  songs  should  be  employed 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  devotional  compositions  of  uninspired  men. 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  consummation  of  the 
union,  those  who  had  labored  and  prayed  for  it  became 
very  anxious  that  peace,  harmony,  and  unanimity  might 
characterize  it.  As  a  means  to  secure  all  this,  a  conven- 
tion was  called  to  meet  at  Xenia,  O.,  on  the  24th  of  March, 
1858,  to  seek  by  united  prayer  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  the  churches,  that  they  might  be  enabled  to 
come  together  in  true  love  and  confidence.  A  very  large 
number  of  ministers  and  laymen  from  all  parts  of  the 
church  assembled  and  spent  nearly  three  days  in  prayer 
and  praise  and  conference,  with  the  happiest  effect,  and 


232 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  vm. 


then  adjourned  to  meet  in  Allegheny,  Pa.,  just  before  the 
assembling  of  the  Synods,  where  the  same  delightful  ex- 
perience was  repeated. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  two  Synods  met  on  the 
19th  of  May,  1858,  the  Associate  in  Pittsburg  and  the 
Associate  Reformed  in  Allegheny,  when  the  following  joint 
action  was  taken  by  both  Synods : 

Whereas  it  is  understood  that  the  "  Testimony  "  submitted  to  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  by  the  Associate  Synod  was  pro- 
posed and  accepted  as  a  term  of  communion,  on  the  adoption  of  which  the 
union  of  the  two  churches  was  to  be  consummated  ;  and  Whereas  it  is  agreed 
between  the  two  churches  that  the  forbearance  in  love,  which  is  required  by 
the  law  of  God,  will  be  exercised  toward  any  brethren  who  may  not  be  able 
fully  to  subscribe  the  standards  of  the  United  Church,  while  they  do  not 
determinedly  oppose  them,  but  follow  the  things  which  make  for  peace  and 
things  wherewith  one  may  edify  another  : 

1.  Resolved,  That  these  churches,  when  united,  shall  be  called  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America. 

[2-6.  Resolutions  provide  for  the  arranging  of  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  a 
General  Assembly.] 

7.  Resolved,  That  these  and  other  regulations  found  necessary,  being 
agreed  upon  by  the  respective  Synods  at  the  present  meeting,  the  two  Synods 
shall  meet  at  such  place  as  shall  mutually  be  agreed  upon,  and,  after  addresses 
by  Dr.  Rodgers  and  Dr.  Pressly  and  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Smart  and  the  Rev.  J. 
Prestley,  be  constituted  with  prayer  by  the  senior  moderator,  after  which  a 
moderator  and  clerk  shall  be  chosen  by  the  United  Church. 

In  accordance  with  the  arrangements  thus  made,  the 
two  Synods  met  together  in  the  City  Hall  of  Pittsburg, 
at  ten  o'clock,  on  the  26th  of  May,  1858,  and  after  prayer 
and  praise  and  the  contemplated  addresses,  the  new  body- 
was  constituted  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Donald  C. 
McLaren,  moderator  of  the  Associate  Reformed  General 
Synod,  and  Dr.  John  T.  Pressly  was  chosen  by  acclamation 
as  the  moderator  of  the  new  body,  as  a  grateful  recogni- 
tion of  his  invaluable  services  in  promoting  the  cause  of 
union  for  twenty  years,  and  in  securing  its  happy  termi- 
nation. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

THE  first  General  Assembly  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  met  on  the  18th  of  May,  1859,  in  Xenia,  0.,  was 
opened  with  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Pressly,  and  by  him  con- 
stituted with  prayer.  Dr.  Peter  Bullions,  of  Troy,  N.  Y., 
was  elected  moderator,  and  Dr.  James  Prestley,  stated 
clerk.  The  principal  work  of  this  Assembly  was  to  or- 
ganize the  executive  machinery  of  the  new  body.  It  was 
decided  to  place  the  beneficent  operations  of  the  church 
in  the  hands  of  Boards,  elected  by  and  subject  to  the 
supervision  of  the  General  Assembly.  These  Boards  were 
of  Foreign  Missions,  of  Home  Missions,  of  Church  Exten- 
sion, of  Publication,  and  of  Education.  In  1863  a  Board 
of  Freedmen's  Missions  was  added,  and  in  1862  an  Aged 
Ministers'  Fund  was  organized,  which  in  1873  developed 
into  a  Board  of  Ministerial  Relief.  In  March,  i860,  the 
General  Assembly  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  its  trustees  are  thus  the  legal  agents 
of  the  church  in  all  her  interests  outside  the  chartered 
Boards. 

The  influences  and  impulses  of  the  union  of  1858  were 
very  benign  and  happy.  A  baptism  from  on  high  evi- 
dently rested  upon  the  new  church,  reviving  and  quicken- 
ing her  in  her  inner  as  well  as  in  her  outer  life,  so  that  she 
developed  a  commendable  degree  of  zeal  and  of  life  and 
of  well-directed  activity. 

But  few  incidents  have  marked  the  course  of  the  United 

233 


234 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  ix. 


Presbyterian  Church.  She  has  done  her  work  quietly, 
and  at  the  same  time  tried  to  meet  her  responsibilities 
arising  from  her  surroundings  and  from  the  general  prog- 
ress of  the  age.  Her  effort  has  been,  not  only  to  bring 
sinners  into  her  fold,  but  also  to  guard  and  promote  their 
purity  when  in.  The  Assembly  early  put  itself  on  record, 
in  reference  to  amusements,  one  of  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lems of  social  life,  by  resolving  : 

That  the  members  of  the  church  be  exhorted  to  avoid  all  association  with 
men  of  the  world  in  vain  and  ensnaring  recreations,  such  as  promiscuous 
dancing,  theatrical  exhibitions,  and  such  like  amusements  as  are  adapted  to 
alienate  the  affections  from  God  and  expose  the  Christian  character  to  re- 
proach, and  that  pastors  and  sessions  be  careful  to  warn  those  under  their 
care  in  relation  to  the  danger  of  having  any  fellowship  with  the  world  in  any 
such  practice. 

The  question  was  asked,  " Are  sessions,  in  receiving  per- 
sons from  the  denomination  of  Arians  called  Cliristians, 
to  require  that  they  be  re-baptized?"  The  Assembly 
answered:  "  That  in  our  judgment  such  applicants  for  fel- 
lowship in  the  church  should  be  regarded  as  unbaptized 
persons,  inasmuch  as  a  community  of  Arians,  denying  the 
true  and  proper  divinity  of  Jesus  and  his  atonement,  by 
whatever  name  they  may  be  denominated,  is  not  entitled 
to  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the  visible  church  of  Christ." 
The  validity  of  papal  baptism  was  also  answered  :  "  That 
while  as  a  general  rule  papal  baptism  should  be  regarded 
as  invalid,  yet  it  is  believed  by  many  in  the  church  that 
there  are  important  exceptions  to  this  rule ;  therefore  this 
Assembly  judges  it  expedient  to  leave  the  question  of  re- 
baptizing  persons  from  the  papal  church  to  the  discretion 
of  sessions." 

The  publication  of  a  book  upon  church  fellowship  by 
one  of  the  pastors  produced  some  local  agitation,  and  a 
request  was  sent  up  to  the  Assembly  of  1868  to  fix  more 
definitely  the  authority  of  sessions  in  the  admission  of 


INTOXICA  TING  DRINKS. 


235 


members.  This  the  Assembly  declined  to  do,  upon  the 
ground  that  the  law  of  the  church  was  sufficiently  explicit 
already,  and  that  anything  further  was  unnecessary,  be- 
cause "  the  sixteenth  article  of  our  '  Testimony  '  lays  down 
the  general  rule  on  the  subject  of  communion,  by  which 
the  church  is  to  be  governed  in  all  ordinary  cases.  It  was 
not  designed  to  make  provision  for  cases  of  an  extraordi- 
nary nature.  When  cases  of  this  kind  occur,  sessions,  in 
the  exercise  of  a  wise  discretion,  must  dispose  of  them  as 
may  be  for  the  peace  and  edification  of  the  church." 

The  subject  of  temperance,  in  all  its  phases,  has  been 
repeatedly  before  the  Assembly,  and  the  following  resolu- 
tions, selected  from  the  many  passed  at  different  times, 
will  show  the  unequivocal  position  of  the  church  upon  this 
subject. 

That  the  business  of  manufacturing  and  vending  intoxicating  drinks  for 
drinking  purposes  is  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  society,  and  therefore 
inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God,  which  requires  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself." 

That  the  practice  of  renting  houses  to  be  occupied  by  those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  to  be  used  as  a 
beverage,  or  for  immoral  purposes,  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  honor  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

That  it  is  inconsistent  with  membership  in  the  Church  of  Christ  to  use  or 
be  engaged  in  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

That  church  sessions  have  full  authority,  and  it  is  their  duty,  to  enforce 
the  principle  of  total  abstinence  where  in  the  exercise  of  a  sound  discretion 
they  have  reason  to  believe  the  safety  of  the  individual  and  the  honor  of 
religion  require  it. 

That  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  all  the  followers  of  Christ  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  of  every  kind,  and  that  such  abstinence  is 
necessary  to  a  consistent  Christian  life. 

That  every  church-member  should  consider  himself  as  pledged,  by  the 
obligations  which  he  assumes,  to  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors 
as  a  beverage. 

That  individual  Christians  should  use  all  proper  means  for  the  suppression 
of  the  liquor  traffic — legal  prohibition,  moral  suasion,  and  the  practice  of 
total  abstinence. 

That  all  measures  of  license  or  tax  are  wrong  in  principle  and  a  failure  in 
practice. 


236  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  ix. 


That  we  regard  this  traffic  as  an  evil  which  can  never  be  removed  without 
political  action,  and  that  we  regard  its  entire  prohibition  as  the  most  pressing 
political  question  of  the  times ;  and  that  it  therefore  becomes  our  duty  as 
Christian  citizens,  in  the  careful  and  prayerful  use  of  the  ballot,  to  meet  this 
question  directly. 

That  we  recognize  in  the  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  a  power- 
ful and  most  efficient  ally  in  the  war  against  the  enemy  of  "  God  and  Home 
and  Native  Land,"  and  we  bid  them  God-speed  in  their  patient,  persistent, 
heroic,  and  prayerful  efforts  to  make  effective  their  great  battle-cry,  "  The 
saloon  must  go." 

The  exclusive  use  of  the  Psalms  of  Scripture  in  formal 
acts  of  praise  has  always  been  one  of  the  distinctive 
peculiarities  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  churches  in  this 
country.  They  brought  Rouse's  version,  as  improved  and 
authorized  by  the  Church  of  Scotland,  with  them  from 
their  fatherland,  and  continued  to  use  it  because  they 
regarded  it  as  the  most  faithful  poetic  translation  of  the 
original.  Its  literary  imperfections  were  well  known,  and 
the  desirableness  and  even  necessity  of  some  improvement 
were  early  felt.  As  early  as  1809  the  Associate  Reformed. 
General  Synod  appointed  a  committee  to  see  what  could 
be  done  in  the  matter.  In  1825  the  attention  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Church  was  called  to  this  subject,  and  eventually 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  do  something.  In  1835 
the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  New  York  appointed  a 
committee  to  procure  an  improved  version,  and  soon  after- 
ward the  Synod  of  the  West  did  the  same.  None  of  these 
movements  accomplished  their  immediate  object,  and  yet 
they  did  much  to  prepare  the  way.  They  voiced  a  strong 
desire  in  the  church,  and  they  made  the  subject  a  familiar 
topic  of  conversation  among  the  ministers  and  the  people, 
and  thus  did  something  toward  liberalizing  that  ultra- 
conservatism  which  stands  in  the  way  of  every  advance. 
They  educated  the  tastes  and  wishes  of  the  people  so  as 
to  make  the  introduction  of  a  new  version  possible,  and 
the  various  committees  appointed  spent  considerable  time 


IMPRO  FED  PSA LMOD  Y. 


237 


and  labor  in  their  work,  and  accumulated  a  large  amount 
of  matter  which  was  utilized  in  the  final  accomplishment 
of  the  work. 

The  first  General  Assembly  took  up  this  matter  just 
where  the  Synods  had  laid  it  down,  and  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  continue  the  work,  with  the  instruction,  "  That 
the  version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  now  used  by  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  be  retained  without  any  change  that 
would  affect  its  integrity.  And  to  be  used  in  connection 
with  this  it  is  desirable  to  have  an  entirely  new  version  of 
equal  fidelity,  and  up  to  the  present  state  of  literature  and 
laws  of  versification."  This  committee,  in  connection  with 
the  Board  of  Publication,  had  the  subject  under  considera- 
tion for  ten  years,  and  then  submitted  an  amended  edition 
of  the  version  in  use,  and  also  other  versions  of  nearly  all 
the  Psalms  in  a  variety  of  meters.  These  were  approved 
•  by  the  Assembly  in  187 1,  and  authorized  to  be  used,  and 
were  very  soon  and  very  generally  introduced  into  the 
churches.  These  Psalms  were  soon  set  to  appropriate 
music  and  published  together  as  the  Psalter  of  the  church. 

Children  are  generally  fond  of  lively,  quick,  moving 
tunes,  and  the  conviction  became  strong  that  much  of  the 
solemn  and  stately  music  which  befitted  the  congregation 
was  not  equally  suitable  to  the  Sabbath-school ;  and  as  the 
children  are  the  future  church,  it  was  felt  that  their  tastes 
and  aptitude  should  be  consulted.  To  meet  this  want, 
a  smaller  book,  "  Bible  Songs,"  has  been  prepared.  It 
consists  of  selections  from  the  authorized  versions  of  the 
Psalms  with  music  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  young,  and 
especially  designed  for  use  in  the  Sabbath-school  and  in 
the  meetings  of  the  Young  People's  Christian  Union.  The 
result  of  all  this  has  been  a  greatly  improved  service  of 
song,  equal  in  all  essential  things  to  that  of  any  of  the 
sister  churches. 


238 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  ix. 


The  Directory  of  Worship  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  common  with  that  of  all  its  antecedents,  pro- 
hibited the  use  of  instrumental  music  in  church  praises. 
But  as  the  culture  of  music  became  more  general  and 
musical  instruments  more  numerous  in  our  homes,  there 
was  a  growing  desire,  especially  among  the  young,  to  carry 
the  musical  culture  of  the  family  into  the  praises  of  the 
sanctuary.  The  subject  was  overtured  to  the  presbyteries, 
and  it  resulted,  in  1882,  in  the  removal  of  the  prohibitory 
rule  from  the  Directory,  thereby  leaving  the  church  with- 
out any  express  law  on  the  subject.  Many  congregations, 
feeling  that  they  were  now  at  liberty  to  do  as  they  pleased, 
have  introduced  instruments  into  their  church  services,  and 
still  more  into  their  Sabbath-schools  and  Young  People's 
Meetings. 

Many  years  ago  female  missionary  societies  were  more 
or  less  common  in  many  of  the  congregations,  but  only  as 
part  of  the  machinery  for  raising  the  annual  contribution 
to  the  church  boards.  There  was  no  effort  toward  the 
diffusion  of  intelligence  or  the  excitement  of  a  missionary 
spirit.  Their  work  was  done  quietly  and  according  to 
established  routine.  But  in  the  process  of  time,  as  the 
church  grew  more  active  and  evangelistic,  and  social  cus- 
toms relaxed  and  changed,  allowing  greater  freedom  to 
women,  they  became  more  interested  and  gave  themselves 
more  intelligently  and  heartily  to  church  work.  Congre- 
gational societies  were  formed  all  over  the  church,  and  to 
help  and  stimulate  each  other  they  formed  closer  relations 
and  combined  into  presbyterial  and  synodic  organizations. 
In  recognition  of  their  valuable  assistance  the  General 
Assembly  encouraged  them  to  form  a  general  missionary 
society  to  cover  the  whole  church,  and  to  work  through  a 
regularly  incorporated  "  Women's  Board,"  auxiliary  to  the 
established  boards  of  the  church.    A  missionary  magazine 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATIONS.  239 

has  been  established  as  its  organ,  and  much  assistance  has 
been  rendered  in  building  parsonages  for  feeble  churches 
in  important  fields,  in  supporting  female  helpers  in  the 
home  fields  and  female  missionaries  in  the  foreign  work, 
and  supporting  two  hospitals  in  India. 

When  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  started  up, 
and  appealed  to  the  young  in  all  the  churches  to  make  an 
organized  effort  to  raise  the  standard  of  their  own  piety, 
and  also  to  do  what  they  could  for  the  conversion  of  the 
young  people  around  them,  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
quickly  sympathized  with  it,  and  made  arrangements  for 
a  denominational  organization  of  this  kind,  and  named  it 
the  "Young  People's  Christian  Union."  It  was  readily 
and  heartily  taken  up  by  the  people,  and  nearly  every 
congregation  has  a  society,  and  a  convention  composed 
of  delegates  from  all  these  is  held  every  year,  to  encour- 
age and  stimulate  each  other,  and  to  devise  measures  for 
greater  usefulness.  The  movement  thus  far  has  been 
healthy,  and  has  certainly  helped  to  develop  the  young 
mentally  and  morally,  and  enable  them  to  take  a  more 
willing  and  active  part  in  church  work. 


CHAPTER  X. 


EDUCATION. 

OUR  ecclesiastical  ancestors  were  stern  Calvinists,  and 
the  teachings  and  necessities  of  their  religion  constrained 
them  to  bring  the  schoolmaster  with  them.  And  although 
generally  poor  in  this  world's  goods  when  they  landed 
upon  our  shores,  yet  they  made  great  personal  sacrifices 
to  establish  educational  institutions  at  the  earliest  possible 
time.  And  what  they  did  in  this  line  was  not  to  promote 
learning  for  its  own  sake,  but  to  make  it  auxiliary  to  the 
advancement  of  religious  truth.  They  built  their  school- 
house  near  their  church,  and  very  often  hired  the  school- 
master before  they  settled  their  pastor.  The  facilities  for 
an  extended  education  were  not  at  once  within  their  reach, 
but  the  means  for  the  acquisition  of  a  fair  primary  educa- 
tion were  at  once  provided  for  and  utilized  by  their  chil- 
dren. And  in  so  doing  they  always  united  education  and 
religion,  and  never  allowed  them  to  be  separated  either 
in  the  schoolhouse  or  the  church.  They  believed  that 
the  exclusive  education  of  the  head  might  develop  infidel- 
ity, just  as  the  exclusive  education  of  the  heart  might 
result  in  fanaticism.  So  to  make  the  well-balanced  man, 
they  united  the  education  of  the  head  and  of  the  heart, 
and  they  generally  succeeded. 

Before  the  advent  of  free  schools  the  Westminster 
Shorter  Catechism  was  taught  in  all  our  day-schools,  and 
every  family  was  then  a  Sabbath-school.  A  new  question 
was  exacted  of  the  beginner  every  Monday  morning,  and 

240 


SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES, 


241 


the  whole  was  repeated  on  Saturday.  And  there  were 
no  exempts.  If  a  child  from  a  Lutheran  or  Methodist 
family  was  in  the  school,  he  went  through  the  whole  cur- 
riculum, and  his  parents  were  glad  to  have  it  so.  After 
mastering  the  headings  in  the  spelling-book  and  some 
primer,  the  only  other  reading-book  was  the  Bible.  The 
New  Testament  was  read  by  the  junior  class,  and  the  Old 
Testament  by  the  seniors.  Reverence  for  God  and  man 
was  thus  inculcated,  and  good  manners  were  also  taught, 
so  that  if  a  scholar  allowed  a  stranger  to  pass  without  a 
bow  or  a  curtsey  it  was  at  the  risk  of  chastisement. 

In  proportion  to  her  numbers  and  wealth  this  church 
stands  second  to  no  denomination  in  the  country  in  her 
effort  to  establish  and  sustain  schools  of  a  higher  order. 
The  first  classical  school  west  of  the  Susquehanna  was 
established  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dobbin,  at  Rock  Creek, 
now  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  where  between  1788  and  1799  he 
prepared  for  college  scores  of  young  men  who  became 
eminent  in  both  church  and  State.  The  pioneer  academy 
in  New  York  north  of  Albany  was  opened  in  1780,  at 
Salem,  and  the  same  course  was  pursued  all  through  the 
West,  in  Chillicothe,  O.,  Lexington,  Ky.,  etc.  She  helped 
to  establish  Jefferson  College,  at  Canonsburg,  Pa.,  and  the 
Western  University,  at  Pittsburg,  and  Franklin  College, 
at  New  Athens,  O.,  and  Transylvania  University,  at  Lex- 
ington, Ky.,  and  Miami  University,  at  Oxford,  O.  And 
then,  realizing  that  it  was  safe,  if  not  the  safest,  for  the 
church  to  educate  her  own  youth  in  institutions  under  her 
immediate  control,  she  successfully  established  Westminster 
College,  at  New  Wilmington,  Pa.,  Muskingum  College,  at 
New  Concord,  O.,  Monmouth  College,  at  Monmouth,  111., 
Tarkio  College,  at  Tarkio,  Mo.,  and  Cooper  Memorial,  at 
Sterling,  Kan.  And  these  are  all  open  to  both  male  and 
female  professors  and  students,  and  of  the  latter  sex  there 


242  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAXS.  [Chap.  x. 


are  not  a  few.  This  is  certainly  a  fair  showing  for  one 
of  the  small  tribes  of  Israel,  which  can  boast  of  very  few 
members  of  large  wealth.  The  money  has  been  contrib- 
uted by  the  small  gifts  of  those  in  moderate  circumstances. 

And  in  the  matter  of  theological  education  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  is  a  pioneer  in  this  country.  The 
men  who  first  planted  her  banners  here  had  received  a 
thorough  university  training,  and  were  never  disposed  to 
lower  the  standard  by  the  admission  of  half- educated  ex- 
horters.  Sorely  as  she  needed  more  laborers,  she  was  not 
willing  to  provide  any  short  cut  into  the  ministry.  For 
some  time  she  had  to  import  her  helpers  from  abroad,  but 
this  supply  was  insufficient  and  precarious,  and  had  a 
tendency  to  keep  the  church  as  an  exotic  in  the  land.  As 
soon  as  the  independence  of  our  country  was  recognized 
and  quiet  secured,  the  training  of  ministers  became  a 
pressing  question,  and  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  led 
the  way,  and  formally  opened  a  theological  school  on  the 
19th  of  May,  1785,  in  the  Garden  Street  Church  in  New 
York  City,  under  the  administration  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Living- 
ston and  Dr.  H.  Meyer,  which  still  lives  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, N.  J.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  both  her 
branches  came  next.  On  the  21st  of  April,  1794,  Dr. 
John  Anderson  was  elected  professor  of  theology  by  the 
Associate  Church,  and  a  two-story  log  building  was  im- 
mediately erected  at  Service  Creek,  Beaver  County,  Pa., 
the  lower  story  to  serve  as  a  library  and  lecture-room,  and 
the  upper  as  a  dormitory  for  the  students.  The  course 
of  study  covered  four  winters,  but  was  not  as  extensive  in 
its  range  of  subjects  as  it  is  now  in  our  highly  endowed 
seminaries,  but  as  far  as  it  did  go  it  was  more  thorough. 
It  was  confined  very  largely  to  an  exhibition  of  Script- 
ure truths,  with  the  suggestive  help  of  Dr.  John  Marck's 
"  Medulla  and  Compend,"  and  no  diligent  student  could 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES. 


243 


fail  to  become  very  familiar  with  the  Bible  in  its  letter  and 
substance  and  spirit.  There  was  not  so  much  secondary 
or  miscellaneous  knowledge  crowded  in  as  to  push  the 
Bible  aside — a  mistake  from  which  all  modern  seminaries 
are  not  altogether  free.  This  seminary  was  transferred 
in  1 82 1  to  Canonsburg,  and  in  1855  to  Xenia,  O.,  where, 
with  a  faculty  of  four  professors,  it  is  still  doing  a  good 
work. 

In  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod,  the  other  branch  of 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  an  act  was  passed  in 
1796  to  provide  a  fund  for  the  assisting  of  pious  young 
men  into  the  ministry,  and  also  to  raise  means  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  theological  school.  To  further  this  latter, 
Dr.  John  M.  Mason  visited  Great  Britain  in  1801,  and  re- 
mained almost  a  year  abroad  collecting  books  and  money. 
But  it  was  not  until  November,  1805,  that  the  seminary 
opened  in  New  York  with  eight  students,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Mason.  The  course  covered  four  years,  the 
annual  session  continued  seven  months.  This  "  Mason 
Seminary,"  as  it  was  very  frequently  called,  became  quite 
celebrated,  and  educated  many  distinguished  men.  At 
the  union  of  1822  it  was  suspended,  but  in  1829  was  re- 
opened at  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  where  it  did  a  good  work 
until  1878,  when  it  was  closed.  The  four  seminaries  of 
the  church  have  been  consolidated  into  two,  and  thus  the 
expense  has  been  reduced,  while  the  efficiency  of  those 
that  remain  has  been  increased. 

When  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  West  be- 
came an  independent  body,  it  also  took  immediate  meas- 
ures to  educate  its  own  ministers,  and  in  1825  established 
a  theological  school  in  Pittsburg,  which  has  since  been 
moved  across  the  river  to  Allegheny.  Here,  after  edu- 
cating nearly  a  thousand  young  men,  it  still  exists,  well 
housed  and  partly  endowed,  and  has  a  faculty  of  four 


244 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.  [Chap.  x. 


resident  professors.  In  1839  this  Synod  opened  a  second 
seminary,  at  Oxford,  0.,  which  was  subsequently  moved 
to  Monmouth,  111.,  and  finally  combined  with  the  semi- 
nary previously  located  at  Xenia,  O. 

The  church  always  has  insisted  upon  a  thorough  train- 
ing for  the  ministry,  exacting  a  full  collegiate  course,  with 
the  addition  of  at  least  three  years  of  special  theological 
study.  This  has  been  done  in  the  belief  that  what  the 
church  loses  in  the  three  or  four  years  of  delay  in  enter- 
ing upon  the  ministry  is  more  than  gained  in  the  greater 
efficiency  secured  by  the  better  preparation.  While  the 
church  has  thus  always  had  well- trained  men  in  her  min- 
istry, very  few  of  them  have  distinguished  themselves  as 
authors.  This  has  not  been  for  lack  of  ability,  but  main- 
ly from  a  want  of  opportunity.  The  church  has  never 
abounded  in  this  world's  goods,  and  has  had  no  places  of 
ease  and  leisure  where  its  ministers  could  pursue  favorite 
lines  of  investigation.  Their  pastoral  charges  have  gener- 
ally been  laborious,  and  called  for  all  their  time  and  talent, 
so  that  very  few  have  attempted  anything  beyond  a  single 
volume,  or  magazine  articles  or  newspaper  contributions. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  BOARDS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

To  concentrate  and  economize  her  resources,  the  church 
has  committed  her  evangelistic  work  to  the  direction  of 
boards,  the  members  of  which  are  chosen  by  the  General 
Assembly.  The  Board  of  Home  Missions  has  the  over- 
sight of  the  field  to  be  supplied  and  cultivated,  and  also 
of  all  the  licentiates  and  unsettled  ministers  who  are  will- 
ing to  receive  appointments,  and  assigns  them  their  places. 
It  thus  tries  to  supply  the  needy  with  the  gospel,  and  also 
to  bring  ministers  into  contact  with  vacant  congregations 
that  are  seeking  pastors.  It  has  always  found  a  very  wide 
field — a  field  both  needy  and  solicitous,  even  importunate 
— and  its  success  has  been  exceedingly  gratifying.  The 
Board  of  Church  Extension  cooperates  with  it,  and  has 
assisted  hundreds  of  missions  and  feeble  congregations  to 
build  their  churches  and  parsonages,  many  of  which  could 
never  have  been  able  to  maintain  their  existence  without 
such  help.  By  making  new  congregations  more  quickly 
self-supporting  and  contributing  churches,  this  board  has 
saved  to  the  Home  Mission  funds  a  larger  amount  of 
money  than  has  been  expended  in  help  to  build  houses. 

Just  as  soon  as  the  Civil  War  began  to  interfere  with 
slavery  in  the  border  States,  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  accordance  with  her  antislavery  principles,  be- 
gan to  look  after  the  waifs  that  were  cast  upon  the  world 
without  home  or  friend.  When  the  government  estab- 
lished "  contraband  camps  "  to  care  for  the  fugitive  slaves, 
the  church  sent  to  them  teachers  and  preachers,  male  and 

245 


246 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  xi. 


female,  to  talk  and  preach,  and  teach  day-schools  and 
night-schools  and  Sabbath-schools.  These  camps  were 
temporary,  and  constantly  changing  their  location  and  in- 
mates, according  to  the  fortunes  of  war,  and  the  church's 
work  had  to  change  accordingly.  Everything  was  dis- 
jointed and  unorganized  and  haphazard  until  the  war  was 
over  and  society  settled  down.  Then  the  General  Assem- 
bly established  a  "  Board  of  Missions  to  the  Freedmen," 
the  object  of  which  "  shall  be  to  educate  the  freemen  of 
the  South  in  secular  and  religious  knowledge,  by  establish- 
ing and  supporting  schools  and  churches  among  them,  and 
by  such  other  means  as  are  appropriate  to  missionary 
operations."  The  board  soon  realized  that  the  colored 
church  in  the  South  must  be  enlightened  and  reformed 
and  built  up  by  native  instrumentalities  of  its  own  color 
and  production,  and  so  it  devotes  its  efforts  mainly  to 
train  a  body  of  well-educated  and  spiritually  enlightened 
ministers  and  teachers.  Large  and  flourishing  schools 
and  congregations  have  been  established  and  maintained 
at  Miller's  Ferry,  Ala.,  Chase  City,  and  Bluestone,  Va., 
Henderson,  N.  C,  and  Athens,  Tenn.  There  is  also  in 
Norfolk,  Va.,  a  collegiate  institute,  with  high-school  and 
normal  school  departments,  with  an  enrollment  of  from 
six  to  eight  hundred  students.  And  in  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
there  is  a  college  with  a  full  faculty  and  a  large  enrollment 
of  students,  which  has  a  primary,  a  high-school,  a  normal, 
a  scientific,  a  commercial,  an  industrial,  a  classical,  and  a 
theological  department,  and  is  authorized  to  give  diplomas 
in  the  arts  and  sciences.  The  good  accomplished  by  these 
institutions  has  not  been  merely  local,  for  they  have  sent 
forth  hundreds  of  well-instructed  males  and  females  who 
are  employed  as  teachers  in  the  schools  of  nearly  all  the 
Southern  States.  And  as  these  have  all  been  carefully 
instructed  in  the  Scriptures  while  in  school,  and  many  of 


FREEDMEN— FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


247 


them  converted,  they  work,  to  some  extent,  as  domestic 
missionaries  in  their  respective  localities. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  recognized 
that  it  was  a  "  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks  and  to  the  bar- 
barians," and  that  its  commission  was,  "  Go  ye  and  teach 
all  nations."  Both  of  its  original  branches  undertook  for- 
eign missionary  work  before  they  were  sufficiently  strong 
to  secure  success,  the  one  in  India  and  the  other  in  the 
island  of  Trinidad.  But  failure  here  did  not  discour- 
age them  from  further  effort,  for  in  1844  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  established  a  mission  in  Damascus,  in 
Syria,  with  special  reference  to  the  descendants  of  Abra- 
ham, eight  thousand  of  whom  resided  in  that  ancient  city, 
of  which  Eliezer,  the  steward  of  Abram's  house,  was  a  na- 
tive. The  missionaries  were  instructed  to  address  them- 
selves "  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile."  This 
field  had  been  regarded  as  a  particularly  hard  one — so  un- 
promising, from  Jewish  bigotry  and  Mohammedan  fanati- 
cism, that  other  churches  that  had  planted  mission  stations 
in  Syria  had  not  hitherto  seen  their  way  clear  to  enter 
Damascus.  But  the  result  was  a  fair  degree  of  success, 
and  Irish  and  Scottish  missionaries  came  and  joined  with 
them.  In  1853  the  mission  was  divided  an'd  several  of 
the  missionaries  were  sent  to  Cairo,  in  Egypt,  to  begin  a 
work  there.  During  the  massacre  of  i860  some  of  the 
missionaries  were  killed,  and  all  the  others  were  compelled 
to  flee.  After  the  trouble  had  passed  the  mission  was 
again  rebuilt  in  Damascus,  but  subsequently  transferred  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland,  which  still  maintains 
it,  that  more  force  might  be  concentrated  upon  the  work 
in  Egypt.  And  in  this  land  of  the  Pharaohs  the  mission- 
aries have  been  remarkably  blessed.  After  many  trials 
and  rebuffs  they  have  secured  not  only  government  pro- 
tection, but  even  government  favor  and  patronage  in  many 


248  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  xi. 


things.  They  have  stations  in  the  principal  cities  of  the 
Delta,  and  scattered  all  along  the  Nile,  from  Mansoora  to 
Assouan.  They  have  a  college  and  a  female  seminary 
at  Asyoot,  with  a  very  respectable  course  of  study,  and 
a  large  enrollment  of  students  from  the  towns  in  upper 
Egypt,  also  a  theological  seminary  and  a  monthly  periodi- 
cal in  Cairo.  This  mission  reported,  in  1893,  31  organized 
congregations,  125  mission  stations,  with  a  roll  of  3891 
communicants;  also  113  day-schools  and  7313  scholars, 
and  117  Sabbath-schools,  with  6266  scholars.  There  are 
44  foreign  missionaries,  30  native  ministers,  and  251  other 
native  helpers.  The  churches  contributed,  during  1892, 
$10,888  for  their  own  support.  The  schools  raised  $13,- 
538,  and  the  Sabbath-schools  $300.  Including  Scriptures, 
religious  and  educational  books,  38,455  volumes  were  sold 
for  $8244.  This  mission  is  having  a  very  positive  and 
healthy  influence  upon  both  the  government  and  people 
of  Egypt,  for  a  very  large  portion  of  the  clerks  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  government  and  of  the  post-office  and  the  rail- 
roads have  been  educated  in  its  schools,  and  are  familiar 
with  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  And  the  success  of 
these  schools  has  stimulated  the  government  and  the  Cop- 
tic Church  to  establish  more  and  better  schools  in  compe- 
tition with  the  "American  "  schools. 

In  1854  the  Associate  Church  sent  out  three  mission- 
aries to  found  a  mission  in  India.  They  selected  the  city 
of  Sialkot,  in  the  Punjaub,  had  many  difficulties  to  contend 
with,  and  were  almost  wrecked  by  the  Sepoy  rebellion  and 
massacre.  But  by  perseverance  and  hard  work,  with  the 
divine  blessing,  they  succeeded  and  established  a  good 
and  firm  basis,  and  as  the  work  widened  and  new  mission- 
aries arrived,  they  occupied  new  places,  until  they  have 
stretched  across  the  whole  northeastern  end  of  the  Land 
of  the  Five  Rivers,  from  Gurdaspur  to  Rawal  Pindi.  Con- 


MIXISTEKIAL  RELIEF— PUBLICA  TIOX. 


249 


gregations  have  been  organized,  schools  have  been  estab- 
lished, including  a  college  and  theological  seminary.  The 
missionary  force  has  so  increased,  both  foreign  and  native, 
as  to  be  distributed  into  three  Presbyteries  under  the  care 
of  a  Synod,  and  the  communion  roll  contains  6750  names. 
Much  of  the  success  of  this  mission  can  be  traced  to  the 
fact  that  they  "  sow  beside  all  waters."  Other  and  older 
missions  had  tried  to  bring  their  teaching  to  bear  especially 
upon  members  of  the  higher  castes,  supposing  that  when 
such  are  converted  they  would  exert  a  stronger  influence 
upon  general  society.  This  mission  has  acted  upon  a  dif- 
ferent plan :  while  it  neglects  no  caste,  it  pays  special  at- 
tention to  the  lowest  castes,  and  even  those  below  all  caste, 
because  they  are  the  most  accessible  and  impressible,  and 
more  souls  can  be  saved.  And  also  because  the  reforma- 
tion and  elevation  of  persons  so  low  become  object-lessons 
which  illustrate  the  transforming  and  elevating  power  of 
Christianity  much  more  strongly  than  could  the  conversion 
of  high- caste  persons,  in  whom  the  apparent  change  must 
necessarily  be  much  less. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  been  very  efficient  in  help- 
ing a  large  number  of  young  men  into  the  ministry  of  the 
church,  and  the  Board  of  Ministerial  Relief  has  brought 
joy  and  comfort  to  many  disabled  and  superannuated 
ministers,  and  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who 
had  given  their  time  and  talents  to  the  work  of  the  church 
rather  than  to  the  laying  up  of  worldly  gain.  The  Board  of 
Publication  owns  a  well- equipped  business  house  in  Pitts- 
burg, and  supplies  the  church  with  all  necessary  denomi- 
national literature,  particularly  Psalters  and  "  Bible  Songs," 
and  Sabbath-school  papers  and  lesson  helps.  The  church 
is  fully  supplied  with  all  the  organizations  and  machinery 
necessary  for  the  carrying  on  of  healthy  and  aggressive 
church  work  at  home  and  abroad. 


250    .  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.         [Chap.  xi. 

The  growth  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  has  not 
been  rapid,  and  never  spasmodic,  and  yet  it  has  always 
made  steady  and  healthy  progress.  Its  annual  percentage 
of  increase  has  been  fully  up  to  that  of  a  majority  of  the 
other  denominations  of  our  country.  Excluded  from  the 
South  because  of  slavery,  it  has  had  but  little  opportunity 
to  expand  in  that  direction,  although  the  early  settlers 
belonged  to  that  class  of  people  that  was  favorable  to  its 
creed  and  its  worship.  And  it  did  have  in  Kentucky  and 
the  Carolinas  a  very  respectable  membership,  until  slavery 
became  the  dominant  issue.  South  of  the  Ohio  it  has  now 
but  one  small  Presbytery  in  Tennessee,  and  in  the  great 
Northwest,  into  which  Scandinavians  and  other  Northern 
peoples  are  crowding,  it  has  only  a  few  scattered  congre- 
gations. Its  home  is  in  the  middle  belt  of  country  that 
stretches  across  our  continent.  It  was  planted  there  by 
and  among  the  Scotch- Irish,  and  as  migration  generally 
follows  the  same  latitude,  it  moved  westward  with  the 
people,  planting  its  congregations  more  or  less  thickly 
from  Boston  on  the  Atlantic  to  San  Diego  and  Seattle  on 
the  Pacific.  If  its  creed  had  been  more  elastic  and  its 
entrance  wider,  it  could  have  boasted  of  greater  numbers. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


DENOMINATIONAL  ATTITUDE. 

DENOMINATIONALISM  is  not  necessarily  either  sin  or 
schism,  although  by  arrogance  and  intolerance  it  may 
become  both.  Wisely  and  properly  used,  it  is  a  gracious 
arrangement  of  Providence  adapted  to  the  mental  and 
emotional  diversities  of  men.  It  always  has  existed,  and 
there  is* nothing  in  the  Scriptures  or  reason  why  it  should 
not  continue  to  exist.  "  Can  two  walk  together  except 
they  be  agreed  ?  "  Men  will  differ  in  tastes  and  tempera- 
ments, so  that  they  can  worship  and  labor  most  pleasantly 
and  profitably  with  those  of  like  feelings  and  opinions  ;  and 
unity  and  affection  are  often  subserved  and  promoted  by 
keeping  the  incongruous  apart.  The  bringing  together  of 
such  would  not  produce  unity,  but  collision. 

The  history  of  sectarianism  clearly  reveals  the  fact  that 
every  denomination  has  a  special  and  specific  reason  for 
its  segregation.  That  reason  may  not  commend  itself  to 
the  judgment  of  the  student  that  views  it  objectively  as 
an  outsider  and  a  stranger,  but  studied  from  the  inner  and 
more  favorable  standpoint  of  a  member  trained  to  a  kindly 
.  familiarity  with  it,  it  reveals  to  him  a  beauty  and  a  power 
that  satisfy  his  mind  and  make  its  avowal  a  duty.  The 
United  Presbyterian  Church  has,  or  claims  to  have,  spe- 
cific and  sufficient  grounds  for  its  separate  and  independent 
existence  without  schism  :  and  that  while  it  is  glad  to  recog- 
nize and  work  with  all  other  Christians  who  hold,  in  com- 
mon with  it,  so  many  precious  gospel  truths,  still  there 

251 


252  'J HE   UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap,  xil 


are  certain  truths  of  vital  importance  which  it  considers  a 
pleasure  and  duty  to  emphasize  with  special  force.  And 
foremost  of  these  are  the  crown  rights  of  Jesus — rights 
that  would  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

Both  of  the  parties  which  joined  to  form  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  had  their  origin  in  the  defense  of  the 
headship  of  Jesus  in  the  church.  When  Charles  II.  came 
to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  he  arrogated  to  himself  the 
right  to  dictate  to  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and,  through 
the  Cabal  in  Edinburgh,  forced  upon' it  a  government  and 
discipline  and  worship  contrary  to  its  own  Confession  and 
the  consciences  of  its  members.  Many  were  grieved  by 
this  subjection  of  the  church  to  the  state,  yet  only  a  few 
had  the  courage  to  resist  unto  blood  against  the  dethrone- 
ment of  their  ascended  Lord.  These  contended  that 
Christ's  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  and  that  the  civil 
ruler,  as  such,  had  no  right  to  give  it  laws  or  dispense  its 
privileges,  for  that  our  God-man  Mediator  was  its  living 
Head  and  only  Law-giver.  For  their  loyalty  to  these 
crown  rights  of  Jesus  they  suffered  the  crudest  possible 
persecution  for  many  years,  and  when  toleration  did  come 
it  only  brought  relief  to  the  body  and  not  to  the  con- 
science, for  the  new  king  claimed  a  royal  supremacy  in  the 
church,  and  they  renewed  their  protest,  and  their  children 
in  this  country  cherished  their  memory  and  taught  their 
creed. 

The  other  Scottish  ancestor  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  sprang  from  the  same  cause,  a  contest  for  the 
royal  prerogatives  of  Jesus.  The  civil  government  had 
so  invaded  the  autonomy  of  the  church  as  to  force  upon 
it  a  system  of  patronage  which  disfranchised  its  freemen 
and  subjected  its  courts  and  pulpits  to  the  dictation  of 
strangers  who  were  also  in  many  instances  reprobates. 
Some,  who  would  not  submit  quietly  to  see  Jesus  thus 


HEADSHIP  OF  JESUS— PECULIARITIES.  253 


dishonored  and  dethroned,  protested  and  stood  upon  the 
defense,  and  bore  reproach  and  persecution  and  worldly 
loss.  What  the  Covenanters  and  Seceders  thus  did  the 
followers  of  the  Relief  and  of  the  Free  Church  have  since 
felt  constrained  to  do,  even  with  less  cause. 

When  these  parties  in  this  country  came  to  see  eye  to 
eye,  they  inscribed  the  headship  of  Christ  high  upon  their 
banner,  and  the  Associate' Reformed  Church  was  the  first 
of  the  American  churches  to  alter  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith  on  the  subject  of  the  civil  magistrate,  and 
to  exclude  from  it  all  traces  of  Erastianism.  The  United 
Presbyterian  Church  has  been  true  to  the  faith  and  tradi- 
tions of  its  ancestors,  and  has  given  special  prominence  to 
the  declaration : 

That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  besides  the  dominion  which  belongs  to  him 
as  God,  has,  as  our  God-man  Mediator,  a  twofold  dominion  with  which  he 
has  been  invested  by  the  Father,  as  the  reward  of  his  sufferings.  These 
are :  a  dominion  over  the  church,  of  which  he  is  the  living  Head  and  Law- 
giver, and  the  Source  of  all  that  divine  influence  and  authority  by  which  she 
is  sustained  and  governed ;  and  also  a  dominion  over  all  created  persons 
and  things,  which  is  exercised  by  him  in  subserviency  to  the  manifestation  of 
God's  glory  in  the  system  of  redemption  and  the  interests  of  his  church. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church,  through  all  its  history, 
has  also  been  unchanging  in  its  loyalty  to  the  Bible,  re- 
garding it  as  the  Word  of  God,  and,  as  such,  necessarily 
inerrant.  For  all  its  creed  and  works  it  exacts  a  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,"  and  holds  that  all  church  courts  are  only 
executive  bodies  that  have  no  right  to  legislate  or  to  shape 
the  faith  and  practices  of  the  church  upon  the  ground 
merely  of  taste  or  sentiment  or  expediency  or  availability. 
Their  business  is  to  carry  out  wisely  and  further  efficiently 
just  what  the  Word  of  God  teaches  and  warrants.  This 
conservatism  gives  rise  to  what  may  be  regarded  as  special 
peculiarities. 

The  church  restricts  its  formal  praise  service  to  the 


254 


THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  xii. 


Psalms  of  the  Bible,  because  they  have  been  given  by  the 
Spirit  to  be  used  in  praise,  and  have  been  sung  with  joy 
and  comfort  by  Jesus  and  the  apostles  and  martyrs  and 
Huguenots  and  Covenanters  and  Puritans,  and  are  there- 
fore certainly  safe  and  profitable,  and  adapted  to  every 
age  and  condition.  It  restricts  sacramental  communion  to 
those  known  to  be  reputable  professors,  because  its  duty 
is  to  keep  pure  and  entire  all  such  religious  worship  and 
ordinances  as  God  hath  appointed  in  his  Word,  and  to 
preserve  purity  and  discipline  in  his  house.  It  also  ex- 
cludes all  those  that  bind  themselves  together  by  oath  to 
secrecy,  or  obedience  to  a  code  of  unknown  laws,  because 
that  might  lead  into  diverse  temptations,  and  restrict  or 
violate  that  law  of  love  and  wide  fraternity  which  says, 
"  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren." 

But  this  church  is  not  founded  upon  such  distinctives 
alone,  for  it  teaches  the  Calvinistic  theology  in  its  purity 
and  fullness.  It  is  not  open  to  the  charge  of  narrowness, 
which  some  indeed  have  ignorantly  alleged  against  it,  for 
its  basis  is  unusually  wide — too  wide  for  the  liberal  theo- 
logian of  the  day.  Whatever  the  Holy  Spirit  has  deemed 
of  sufficient  importance  to  reveal,  it  regards  of  sufficient 
importance  to  believe  and  teach.  It  has  especially  em- 
phasized certain  fundamental  doctrines,  which  it  thinks 
are  too  much  overlooked  or  underestimated  in  our  day, 
to  the  reception  of  which  it  requires  both  ministers  and 
members  to  assent — such  as  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  eternal  sonship  of  Christ,  human  inability, 
nature  and  extent  of  the  atonement,  imputed  righteous- 
ness, the  gospel  offer,  saving  faith,  evangelical  repentance, 
the  believer's  deliverance  from  the  law  as  a  covenant,  and 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Guarding  thus  the  theology  of  the  pulpit  and  of  the 
pews,  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  thinks  it  has  a  place 


CONSERVATIVE. 


255 


and  a  mission.  It  is  homogeneous,  and  leaves  no  place 
for  a  faction  to  war  upon  its  creed.  It  has  never  lowered 
its  standard  for  the  sake  of  numbers,  or  employed  human 
expedients  to  gain  popularity,  or  in  any  way  made  an 
effort  simply  to  please  the  people.  Conservative  in  faith 
yet  aggressive  in  works,  it  has  found  hitherto  no  better 
way  to  reach  the  masses  than  by  preaching  plainly  and 
fully  the  old  story  of  the  cross,  in  connection  with  a  sim- 
ple worship,  and  in  entire  dependence  upon  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  the  fruit.  And  the  Lord  has  graciously  granted 
a  fair  measure  of  success. 


STATISTICS  OF  1893. 


Synods  

Presbyteries  

Ministers  

Members  

Congregations  

Sabbath -schools  

Teachers  and  scholars  

Congregational  Missionary  Societies 

Young  People's  Societies  

Members  of  same  

Parsonages  

Congregational  expenses  

Contributions  to  the  Boards  

Other  contributions  , 

Average  per  member  

Males  

Females   


257 

$1,000,000 


$300,000 
$100,000 


111,000 


1,156 
108,023 


44,000 
67,000 


29,000 


$14 


935 


861 
664 


62 
891 


12 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


BY 

ROBERT   V.  FOSTER, 

Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  the  Theological  School  of  Cumberland 
University,  Lebanon,  Tennessee. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. i 


Historical  Works. 

Beard,  Richard,  D.D.,  Biographical  Sketches  of  the  Early  Ministers  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,     1867,  2  vols. 

Blake,  T.  C,  Old  Log  House :  History  and  Defense  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church.  1878. 

Chrisman,  E.  B.,  D.D.,  Origin  and  Doctrines  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.  1875. 

Cossitt,  F.  R.,  D.D.,  The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev.  Finis  Ewing,  one 
of  the  Lathers  and  Founders  of  the  Cwnberland  Presbyterian  Church. 
i853- 

Davidson,  Robert,  LListory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  with 
a  Preliminary  Sketch  of  the  Churches  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  New 
York,  1847. 

Lindsley,  J.  B.,  D.D.,  Sources  and  Sketches  of  Cumberland  Presbyterian 

History  (in  the  Theological  Medium,  Nashville,  Term.,  1877-78). 
Lowry,  David,  Life  of  Rev.  Robert  Donnell.  1867. 

McDonnold,  B.  W.,  D.D.,  History  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  1888.  (Much  the  fullest  work  hitherto  published  on  this  sub- 
ject.) 

Semi-Centennial  Exercises  and  Addresses.  1880. 

Smith,  Rev.  James,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Lncluding  a  History 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.     1 835. 

Doctrinal  Works. 

Beard,  Richard,  D.D.  (formerly  professor  of  systematic  theology  in  Cum- 
berland University,  Lebanon,  Term. ),  Lectures  on  Theology.  1870,  3  vols. 
—  Why  am  La  Cumberland  Presbyterian  ?  1874. 

Blake,  T.  C,  D.D.,  Compend  of  Theology.  1880. 

Burney,  S.  G.,  D.D.,  The  Doctrine  of  Election.  1879. — Baptismal  Re- 
generation. 1880. — Atonement  and  Law  Reviewed.  1888. — Studies  in 
Psychology.     1 891 . 

Darby,  W.  J.,  D.D.,  Our  Position  (a  pamphlet).  1889. 

Donnell,  Rev.  Robert  (one  of  the  framers  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  of 
1814),  Thoughts  on  Various  Theological  Subjects.  1852. 

Ewing",  Rev.  Finis,  Lectures  on  Theological  Subjects.  1824. 

Foster,  R.  V.,  D.D.,  A  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  1891. 

Howard,  J.  M.,  D.D.,  Creed  and  Constitution  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  with  a  Historical  Introduction.  1885. 

Miller,  A.  B.,  D.D.,  Doctrine  and  Genius  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  1892. 

Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom  (vol.  iii.,  pp.  771-776)  contains  a  parallel 
exhibit  of  the  Westminster  and  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Confes- 
sions. 

1  All  the  books  here  mentioned,  unless  otherwise  stated,  are  published  by 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Publication  House,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

258 


THE   CUMBERLAND  PRESBY- 
TERIANS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  AND  NAME. 

The  first  Presbytery  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  organized  on  the  fourth  day  of  February, 
1810.  The  three  ministers  who  organized  it  were  Finis 
Ewing,  Samuel  King,  and  Samuel  McAdow.  It  was 
named  Cumberland  Presbytery  for  the  two  following 
reasons : 

1.  The  country  in  which  it  originated — a  portion  of 
southwestern  Kentucky  and  an  adjoining  part  of  Tennessee 
— was  known  in  those  days  as  the  Cumberland  country. 
The  Cumberland  River  flowed  through  it;  Nashville  was 
not  far  within  its  southern  border;  and  near  its  western 
extremity,  in  what  is  now  called  Dixon  County,  Tenn.,  the 
Presbytery  was  organized. 

2.  There  had  been  a  Presbytery  in  the  "  mother  "  church 
called  Cumberland  Presbytery.  It  had  been  created  by  the 
Kentucky  Synod  in  1802,  and  was  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  divided  Transylvania  Presbytery.  In  October,  1805,  it 
held  its  last  meeting,  and  in  1806  it  was  formally  dissolved 
by  the  Kentucky  Synod.  When  the  ministers  above  men- 
tioned, and  who  had  been  members  of  it,  reorganized  it 
independently,  they  gave  it  the  old  name.  And  that  is 
the  reason  why  there  happens  to  be  a  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church — so  far,  at  least,  as  the  name  is  concerned. 

259 


CHAPTER  II. 


CAUSES. 

BUT  why  did  the  Kentucky  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  dissolve  its  Cumberland  Presbytery  ?  The  answer 
in  brief  is :  It  all  grew  out  of  that  event,  so  notable  in  the 
early  history  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  country,  "  the  re- 
vival of  1800."  There  were  no  schools  in  those  days  for 
it  to  grow  out  of.  The  country  abounded  chiefly  in  un- 
saved souls,  sparse  though  the  population  then  would  now 
be  called.  Presbyterianism  was  relatively  strong,  but  it 
was  not  adapting  itself  to  its  situation ;  it  was  not  meet- 
ing the  evangelical  demands  made  upon  it  by  its  surround- 
ings ;  it  lacked  the  divine  skill  to  protect  its  orthodoxy  and 
evangelize  the  country  at  the  same  time.  Events  have 
shown,  even  to  its  own  satisfaction,  that  it  was  not  as  wise 
as  a  serpent,  and  that  consequently  it  was  not  as  harmless 
as  a  dove — not  in  its  actions,  at  least,  whatever  may  be 
said  of  its  heart.  And  so  it  naturally  came  to  pass  that 
every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  men's  hearts,  in  the 
Cumberland  country,  and  in  the  Transylvania  country  also, 
was  growing  evil  continually,  and  the  outward  indifference 
toward  evangelical  religion  corresponded,  of  course,  with 
the  prevailing  inward  infidelity.  If  the  current  Presby- 
terianism did  not,  either  positively  or  negatively,  inculcate 
fatalism  and  encourage  an  unwholesome  formalism,  it  was 
popularly  supposed  to  do  so,  and  not  many  Presbyterian 
ministers,  it  seems,  took  any  special  pains  to  make  men 
see  to  the  contrary.     If  they  did,  they  failed. 

In  this  connection  the  name  of  James  McGready  is  one 

260 


JAMES  MCGREAD  Y. 


26l 


always  to  be  mentioned.  It  was  under  his  evangelistic 
ministry  in  the  Cumberland  country  that  matters  were 
rapidly  moved  on  to  the  crisis.  He  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  but  studied  under  the  Rev.  John  McMillan  in 
western  Pennsylvania. 

About  1786  he,  by  accident,  overheard  a  conversation  between  two  of  his 
friends,  of  which  he  was  the  subject.  They  freely  expressed  their  views 
about  his  religious  character,  declaring  that,  though  a  minister  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  he  was  a  mere  formalist,  a  stranger  to  regenerating  grace. 
This  led  him  to  earnest  self-examination  and  prayer,  and  at  a  sacramental 
meeting  near  the  Monongahela  River  he  found  the  new  spiritual  life  which 
his  friends  had  declared  he  lacked.  This  new  experience  transformed  his 
whole  life.  Thenceforth  he  made  it  his  mission  to  arouse  false  professors, 
to  awaken  a  dead  church,  and  warn  sinners  and  lead  them  to  seek  the  new 
spiritual  life  which  he  himself  had  found.  In  North  Carolina,  whither  he 
went  as  pastor,  extensive  revivals  were  kindled.  His  ministry  also  aroused 
fierce  opposition.  He  was  accused  of  "  running  people  distracted,"  diverting 
them  from  necessary  avocations,  "  creating  needless  alarm  about  their  souls." 
The  opposers,  we  are  told,  went  so  far  at  one  time  as  to  tear  away  and  burn 
his  pulpit,  and  send  him  a  threatening  letter  written  in  blood.1 

McGready  moved  to  Logan  County,  Ky. — a  part  of  the 
Cumberland  country — in  1796,  and  became  the  pastor  of 
several  Presbyterian  churches.  Here,  as  in  North  Caro- 
lina, his  sermons  were  "  a. ringing  alarm,"  and  everywhere 
either  awakened  penitence  or  aroused  opposition ;  and  the 
opposition,  strange  to  say,  was  encouraged  and  led  by  those 
who  should  rather  have  been  foremost  in  seeking  and  sav- 
ing the  lost.  They  taught  the  people  that  they  need  not 
give  themselves  any  trouble  on  the  subject  of  experimental 
religion,  and  one  of  them  went  about  the  country  ridiculing 
in  his  sermons  "  the  doctrines  of  faith,  of  repentance,  and  of 
regeneration."2  But  many  were  not  of  this  sort.  In  1803 
the  Rev.  David  Rice,  of  the  Kentucky  Synod,  preached  a 
sermon  before  that  body  in  reference  to  this  revival.  His 
testimony  is  perhaps  worth  quoting  here  at  some  length, 

1  Dr.  J.  M.  Howard  in  Hays's  "  Presbyterians." 

2  Dr.  McMullen's  MS.,  quoted  in  McDonnold's  "  History.'' 


262 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.     [Chap.  II. 


as  it  is  unprejudiced  evidence  that  the  revivalists  were  no 
fantastic  New  Lights,  and  that  the  work  was  due  to  a 
genuine  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit.     He  says: 

This  revival  has  made  its  appearance  in  various  places  without  any  ex- 
traordinary means  to  produce  it.  .  .  .  The  revival  appears  to  be  granted  in 
answer  to  prayer,  and  in  confirmation  of  that  gracious  truth  that  God  has 
"  not  said  to  the  house  of  Jacob,  Seek  ye  me  in  vain,"  when  he  says  he  will 
be  inquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to  do  it  for  them. 

As  far  as  I  can  see,  there  appears  to  be  in  the  subjects  of  this  work  a  deep, 
heart-humbling  sense  of  the  great  unreasonableness,  abominable  nature, 
pernicious  effects,  and  deadly  consequences  of  sin ;  and  the  absolute  un- 
worthiness  in  the  sinful  creature  of  the  smallest  crumb  of  mercy  from  the 
hand  of  a  holy  God.  .  .  .  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified,  appears  to  be 
the  "  all  in  all "  to  the  subjects  of  this  revival,  and  the  creature  nothing,  and 
less  than  nothing. 

They  seem  to  have  a  very  deep  and  affecting  sense  of  the  worth  of  precious 
immortal  souls,  ardent  love  to  them,  and  an  agonizing  concern  for  their  con- 
viction, conversion,  and  complete  salvation.  .  .  .  Neighborhoods  noted  for 
their  vicious  and  profligate  manners  are  now  as  much  noted  for  their  piety 
and  good  order.  Drunkards,  profane  swearers,  liars,  quarrelsome  persons, 
etc.,  are  remarkably  reformed.  ...  A  number  of  families  who  had  lived 
apparently  without  the  fear  of  God,  in  folly  and  in  vice,  without  any  religious 
instruction  or  any  proper  government,  are  now  reduced  to  order,  and  are 
daily  joining  in  the  worship  of  God,  reading  his  Word,  singing  his  praises, 
and  offering  up  their  supplications  to  a  throne  of  grace. 

Parents  who  seemed  formerly  to  have  little  or  no  regard  for  the  salvation 
of  their  children  are  now  anxiously  concerned  for  their  salvation,  are  pleading 
for  them,  and  endeavoring  to  lead  them  to  Christ  and  train  them  up  in  the 
way  of  piety  and  virtue.  .  .  . 

The  subjects  of  this  work  appear  to  be  very  sensible  of  the  necessity  of 
sanctification  as  well  as  justification,  and  that  holiness  without  which  no  man 
can  see  the  Lord ;  to  be  desirous  that  they  and  all  that  name  the  name  of 
Christ  should  depart  from  iniquity.  .  .  . 

Now  I  have  given  you  my  reasons  for  concluding  the  morning  is  come,  and 
that  we  are  blessed  with  a  real  revival  of  the  benign  and  heaven-born  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  demands  our  grateful  acknowledgments  to  God  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.1 

Numerous  similar  testimonies  might  be  quoted  from 
such  Presbyterians  as  the  Rev.  David  Nelson,  the  Rev.  Dr. 

1  Quoted  in  McDonnold's  "  History,"  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Speer,  whose 
history  and  unqualified  indorsement  of  the  revival  was  published  by  the 
Presbyterian  Publishing  Board,  Philadelphia. 


REVIVAL  IN  THE  CUMBERLAND  COUNTRY.  263 


George  Baxter,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Alexander.  For  a 
series  of  years  from  the  beginning  of  the  revival  in  1797 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  gave 
its  testimony  to  its  precious  fruits.  In  1803  it  thus  speaks 
concerning  the  work  in  the  Cumberland  country : 

In  many  Southern  and  Western  presbyteries  revivals  of  a  more  extensive 
and  of  a  more  extraordinary  nature  have  taken  place.  It  would  be  easy  for 
the  Assembly  to  select  some  very  remarkable  instances  of  the  triumphs  of 
divine  grace  which  were  exhibited  before  them  in  the  course  of  the  very  in- 
teresting narratives  presented  in  the  free  conversation — instances  of  the  most 
malignant  opposers  of  vital  piety  being  convinced  and  reconciled ;  of  some 
learned,  active,  and  conspicuous  infidels  becoming  signal  monuments  of  that 
grace  which  they  once  despised ;  and  various  circumstances  which  display  the 
holy  efficacy  of  the  gospel.  ...  In  the  course  of  the  last  year  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  several  thousands  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  have  been  brought  to  embrace  the  gospel  of  Christ.  .  .  .  The  As- 
sembly consider  it  worthy  of  particular  attention  that  most  of  the  accounts  of 
revivals  communicated  to  them  stated  that  the  institution  of  praying  societies, 
or  special  seasons  of  prayer  to  God  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  preceded 
the  remarkable  displays  of  divine  grace  with  which  our  land  has  been  blessed. 
In  most  cases,  preparatory  to  signal  effusions  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the  pious 
have  been  stirred  up  to  cry  fervently  and  importunately  that  God  would 
appear  to  vindicate  his  own  cause.  The  Assembly  see  in  this  a  confirmation 
of  the  Word  of  God,  and  an  ample  encouragement  of  the  prayers  and  hopes 
of  the  pious  for  future  and  more  extensive  manifestations  of  the  divine  power. 
And  they  trust  that  the  churches  under  their  care,  while  they  see  cause  of 
abundant  thankfulness  for  this  dispensation,  will  also  perceive  that  it  presents 
new  motives  to  zeal  and  fervor  in  application  to  that  throne  of  grace  from 
which  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh.  The  Assembly  also  observe  with 
great  pleasure  that  the  desire  for  spreading  the  gospel  among  the  blacks  and 
among  the  savage  tribes  on  our  borders  has  been  rapidly  increasing  during 
the  last  year.  The  Assembly  take  notice  of  this  circumstance  with  the  more 
satisfaction,  as  it  not  only  affords  a  pleasing  presage  of  the  spread  of  the 
gospel,  but  also  furnishes  agreeable  evidence  of  the  genuineness  and  the 
benign  tendency  of  that  spirit  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  pour  out  upon 
his  people.  On  the  whole,  the  Assembly  cannot  but  declare  with  joy,  and 
with  most  cordial  congratulations  to  the  churches  under  their  care,  that  the 
state  and  prospects  of  vital  religion  in  our  country  are  more  favorable  and 
encouraging  than  at  any  period  within  the  last  forty  years.1 

But,  notwithstanding  these,  and  all  such  good  words  by 
individual  ministers  and  official  bodies,  the  revival  preach- 

1  See  McDonnold's  "  History,"  p.  21. 


264 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.     [Chap.  h. 


ers  in  the  Cumberland  country  were  interdicted  by  a  com- 
mission of  Kentucky  Synod.  There  were  some  things,  of 
course,  that  were  not  as  orderly  as  they  might  have  been 
under  less  urgent  circumstances;  and  the  Kentucky  re- 
vival was  charged  with  running  into  Shakerism — although 
but  one  of  the  revival  party  ever  joined  the  Shakers,  and 
although  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  acquisition 
which  they  made  in  that  day  and  in  that  community  was 
an  anti-revival  Presbyterian!  "Is  it  not  marvelous,"  to 
use  the  words  of  one  of  the  leading  Presbyterian  ministers 
of  those  days,  "  is  it  not  marvelous  that  good  men  can  be 
so  deluded  by  the  wiles  of  the  great  Adversary  as  to  be- 
come evidently  eager  to  impute  all  the  wrong  things  that 
may  appear  in  that  community  for  ten  or  twenty  years 
afterward  to  the  influence  of  the  revival  ?  With  as  much 
propriety  you  might  charge  the  apostasy  of  Judas  to  the 
ministry  of  Jesus  Christ."1 

But  the  letter  of  the  Standards  must  be  adhered  to, 
rather  than  the  substance  and  the  spirit ;  and  so  the  mouths 
of  the  revivalists  must  be  stopped — because  the  exigencies 
of  the  time  and  the  country  demanded  that  they  should 
break  the  bread  of  life  to  the  perishing  without  waiting 
to  make  a  poor  translation  of  some  sentences  from  Caesar ; 
because  they  could  not  believe  that  God  created  some 
men  and  angels  for  no  other  reason  than  to  glorify  himself 
by  damning  them  to  eternal  torment!  The  Rev.  David 
Rice,  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  Synod,  said  in  1808, 
when  the  revival,  so  far  as  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
concerned,  was  no  more : 

That  we  had  a  revival  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  Christianity  among  us,  I 
did,  do,  and  ever  shall  believe ;  .  .  .  but  we  sadly  mismanaged  it ;  we  have 
dashed  it  down  and  broken  it  to  pieces.  .  .  .  We  have  not  acted  as  wise 
master-builders  who  have  no  need  to  be  ashamed.2 

1  Rev.  David  Nelson,  quoted  in  the  "  Western  Sketch-book." 

2  Bishop's  "  Memoir  of  Rice." 


CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  COUNCIL.  26$ 


Fifty  years  later  the  Rev.  James  Gallagher,  a  Presbyte- 
rian minister  in  East  Tennessee,  wrote  a  history  of  the  re- 
vival of  1 800.    Writing  of  the  suspended  ministers,  he  says : 

Certain  it  is  that  no  men  more  regretted  any  departure  from  sound  doctrines 
than  did  these  good  men  whose  labors  were  so  abundantly  blessed  in  that 
dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  which  the  West,  in  its  infancy,  was  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  God.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  now,  after  fifty  years, 
there  is  in  any  part  of  the  several  evangelical  denominations  more  of  that 
religion  which  God  approves  than  in  the  region  visited  by  the  revival  of  1800. 

And,  speaking  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians : 

This  body  of  Christian  people  began  their  organized  existence  during  that 
great  divine  visitation.  There  are  among  them  many  strong  men  ;  workmen 
that  need  not  be  ashamed.  And  their  blessed  Master  has  been  with  them  in 
every  part  of  that  wide  field  where  they  have  labored,  and  has  made  his 
gospel  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  many  thousand  believing  souls. 
From  my  inmost  soul  I  honor  these  men,  and  will  speak  of  it  in  the  presence 
of  the  church  of  my  God.  ...  I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  my  belief 
that  during  the  last  forty  years  no  body  of  ministers  in  America  or  in  the 
world  have  preached  so  much  good  efficient  preaching,  and  received  such 
small  compensation.  That  church  now  stands  before  heaven  and  earth  a 
monument  of  God's  great  work  in  the  revival  of  1800. 

When  the  old  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  dissolved  by 
the  Synod,  the  revivalists,  members  of  that  Presbytery, 
organized  themselves  into  a  Council.  This  was  done  in 
order  to  secure  concurrence  and  uniformity  of  action  on. 
their  part.  Various  efforts  were  made  by  them  to  secure 
reconciliation,  but  without  avail.  Finally  the  Council  ap- 
pealed to  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  to  act  as  a  sort  of 
mediator.  But  that  Presbytery  decided  that  no  mitigation 
of  the  usual  construction  concerning  "  fatality  "  would  be 
permitted  in  adopting  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

In  a  formal  letter  which  it  sent  as  its  ultimatum  the  Presbytery  said: 
"  With  relation  to  those  young  men  licensed  and  ordained  by  the  aforesaid 
Presbytery  (Cumberland),  we  do  humbly  conceive  that  a  formal  examination 
of  them  respecting  doctrine  and  discipline  is  indispensable.  An  unequivocal 
adoption  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  is  also  indispensable.  .  .  .  For  them  to 
adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  only  in  part,  and  we  the  whole,  would  by  no 


266 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  IL 


means,  in  our  opinion,  effect  a  union  according  to  truth  and  reality;  and 
whatever  inference  may  be  drawn  by  others  respecting  what  is  called  fatality 
from  our  views  as  expressed  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  respecting  divine 
sovereignty  and  the  decrees  of  predestination  and  election,  we  conceive  that 
no  such  conclusion  can  follow  from  the  premises  as  there  laid  down."  1 

The  members  of  the  Council,  willing  neither  to  accept 
doctrines  which  seemed  to  them  to  be  false  nor  to  be  shut 
out  of  their  rights  and  privileges  as  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters, prayed  for  redress  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1809. 
This  Assembly  also  had  before  it  the  minutes  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Synod  in  regard  to  the  whole  matter,  and  also  a 
letter  from  that  body  explaining  its  proceedings.  The 
Rev.  John  Lyle,  the  old  enemy  of  the  revival,  was  their 
bearer  and  defender.  Alas  for  the  harm  that  one  per- 
sistent man  (or  one  persistent  committee)  can  do  his 
church !  Lyle  had  in  a  high  degree  the  dangerous  "  gift 
of  tears."  His  weeping  and  impassioned  appeal  completely 
turned  the  tide  against  the  Council  and  the  revivalists. 
"  The  Assembly,"  says  Dr.  Davidson,  "  voted  unanimously 
for  sustaining  all  the  actions  of  the  Synod,  and  added  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  the  Synod  for  its  fidelity ;  and  this  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  Kentucky  Synod  explained  that 
the  action  of  the  commission  against  the  ministers  of  what 
had  been  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  not  meant  to  be 
construed  as  suspension  in  the  technical  sense ;  and  this 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  General  Assembly  itself 
had  formerly  sent  a  committee  to  Kentucky  Synod  to 
remonstrate  with  that  body  about  the  proceedings  of  its 
commission ;  and  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
better  opinion  in  the  Assembly  was  then,  and  had  all  along 
been,  that  the  work  of  the  commission  of  Kentucky  Synod 
*  was  without  constitutional  authority  and  wholly  void  ' ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  '  semi-official  letter '  of 

1  Hays's  "  Presbyterians." 


THE  COUNCIL  CONDEMNED. 


267 


the  Assembly,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Wilson,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, had  been  sent  to  the  Council,  in  which  he  said : 
'  We  are  glad  to  hear  of  the  prudence,  diligence,  and  suc- 
cess of  the  men  you  [the  Cumberland  Presbytery]  admitted. 
If  they  hold  to  the  form  of  sound  words,  and  are  stead- 
fast in  the  faith,  they  will  be  as  much  beloved  by  most  of 
us  as  though  they  had  studied  long  and  graduated.'  " 

But  the  deed  was  done,  and,  although  no  formal  charges 
had  ever  been  brought  against  them,  and  no  formal  trial 
ever  held,  the  ministers  of  the  revival  "  party "  were 
"  adrift  on  life's  ocean."  The  present  is  always  doing 
something  which  the  future  in  its  calmer  hours  bitterly 
regrets. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  NEW  PRESBYTERY. 

THE  names  of  the  members  of  the  Council — the  old 
Cumberland  Presbytery  of  Kentucky  Synod — were  James 
McGready,  William  Hodge  and  his  nephew,  Samuel 
Hodge,  William  McGee,  Samuel  McAdow,  Finis  Ewing, 
and  Samuel  King. 

McGready  and  the  Hodges  chose  to  resume  their  con- 
nection with  the  Synod,  on  such  terms  as  were  agreeable 
to  them  and  to  it.  Samuel  Hodge,  however,  was  very 
defective  in  literary  attainments,  and  did  not  begin  the 
study  of  English  grammar  until  several  years  after  he  was 
thus  received  as  an  ordained  minister  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church — from  which  it  would  seem  that  the  authorities 
vacillated  in  their  view  concerning  the  rigidity  with  which 
the  educational  rule  ought  to  be  enforced.  McGee,  while 
he  could  not  accept  the  doctrine  of  predestination  as  taught 
in  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  held  that  "  the  truth 
lay  betwixt  Calvinism  and  Arminianism  " — or,  in  other 
words,  that  it  was  exclusively  neither — was  yet  unwilling 
to  unite  with  the  others  in  the  organization  of  a  Presbytery 
until  a  new  creed  could  be  formulated.  Things  stood  in 
doubtful  attitude  from  October,  1809,  till  February,  18 10, 
on  the  third  day  of  which  month  Finis  Ewing  and  Samuel 
King  repaired  to  the  house  of  Samuel  McAdow  and  laid 
before  him  the  question  of  forming  an  independent  Pres- 
bytery. "  McAdow  spent  the  whole  night  in  prayer,  and 
in  the  morning,  February  4th,  with  face  aglow,  announced 

268 


THE  NEW  PRESBYTERY. 


269 


his  readiness  to  join  in  the  organization."  And  thus  it 
was  that  the  new  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  constituted 
— and  the  "  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church"  was  born — 
in  just  such  an  "old  log-house"  as  many  a  great  thing, 
before  and  since,  has  been  born  in.  Just  as  men  are,  so 
are  churches,  mightier  than  their  birthplaces. 

After  the  organization  of  the  new  Presbytery,  a  judi- 
cature of  the  mother  church  proceeded  to  silence  or  depose 
these  three  preachers — a  proceeding  which  was  of  course 
harmless.  As  the  new  Presbytery  grew,  circulars  and 
other  publications  were  sent  out  warning  the  people  that 
the  new  church  had  no  right  to  administer  ordinances. 
This  provoked  a  smile  from  some,  and  drew  forth  from 
others  a  sharp  reply.  The  reply  held  up  in  contrast  the 
ordination  of  the  first  Presbyterians  by  Roman  bishops 
with  the  ordination  of  Ewing,  King,  and  McAdow  by  a 
regular  Presbytery.  It  pointed  to  the  fact  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  divines  received 
their  ordination  from  a  single  bishop.  It  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  neither  Viret  nor  Farel,  for  example,  had 
ever  been  authorized  to  ordain,  but  only  to  preach,  when 
they  proceeded,  as  they  probably  did,  solemnly  to  lay 
ordaining  hands  upon  Calvin.  The  efforts  to  break  down 
the  young  church  by  this  mode  of  attack  utterly  failed, 
and  were  soon  abandoned.  Ewing,  King,  and  McAdow 
were  regularly  ordained  ministers,  as  everybody  knew ; 
and  everybody  also  knew  that  they  had  never  been  under 
any  formal  charges.  And  after  all,  it  was  as  well  known 
then  as  it  is  now  that  "  if  the  validity  of  the  Christian 
ministry  depended  on  an  unbroken  succession  of  diocesan 
bishops,  which  again  depends  on  historical  proof,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  defend  "  even  the  great  Reformation  of  the 
sixeenth  century.  So,  notwithstanding  the  regularity  of 
their  ordination,  these  Cumberland  Presbyterian  ministers, 


270  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  hi. 

as  did  the  old  Reformers,  "  planted  themselves  on  the 
promise  of  Christ,  the  ever-present  Head  of  the  church," 
and  recognized  as  their  best  authority  the  special  internal 
divine  call  and  preparation.  And  they  proved  their  min- 
istry by  the  abundance  of  their  labors. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  new  Presbytery  had  no  churches 
represented.  The  second,  which  was  held  in  October, 
1 8 10,  had  only  one;  at  this  meeting  the  fourth  minister 
from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Rev.  William  McGee, 
joined  the  Presbytery.  It  now  numbered  five,  the  Rev. 
Ephraim  McLean,  a  licentiate  of  the  old  Cumberland 
Presbytery,  having  been  ordained  at  the  first  meeting. 
Nor  were  any  churches  represented  at  the  third  meet- 
ing; the  fourth  had  six;  the  fifth,  eight,  several  of  which 
had  been  organized  by  the  new  Cumberland  Presbytery. 
After  a  little  while  some  more  of  the  churches  which  had 
been  with  the  revival  ministers  of  the  old  Cumberland  cast 
in  their  lots  with  the  new,  but  never  enough  of  them  to 
amount  to  a  schism.  "  The  membership  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  to-day  is,  ninety  percent,  of  it, 
made  up  of  converts  won  from  Satan's  dominion,  and  not 
of  proselytes  won  from  other  churches." 

In  the  beginning  it  was  an  exceedingly  small  church;  a 

 tiny  pine-shrub  shot  up  from  the  moss, 

The  wren's  foot  would  cover  it  tripping  across, 

but 

The  seasons  fly  past  and  its  head  is  on  high, 

And  its  thick  branches  challenge  each  mood  of  the  sky. 

It  was  warmed  by  God's  sunshine  and  fanned  by  his 
breath,  for  how  else  could  the  little  one  have  become  a 
thousand  ? 

All  the  ministers  of  the  new  Presbytery  had  a  thorough 
Presbyterian  training,  and  Cumberland  Presbyterians  still 


STRICT  SABBATH  OBSERVANCE. 


271 


regard  it  as  worthy  of  record  that  in  profound  respect 
for  the  Sabbath  they  were  scarcely  behind  the  Puritans 
themselves.  The  customs  of  their  families  in  this  respect 
were  regulated  strictly  by  the  Jewish  law.  No  wood  was 
gathered  or  carried,  much  less  cut,  on  the  Sabbath.  No 
visiting,  no  pleasure-riding,  no  cooking,  no  strolling  through 
the  woods,  no  whistling,  no  traveling,  except  to  church,  no 
conversation  or  reading,  except  on  religious  subjects,  was 
tolerated.  If  a  child  committed  an  offense  worthy  of  the 
rod,  the  penalty  was  delayed  till  Monday  morning.1 

1  McDonnold's  "  History." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A  CIRCULAR  LETTER. 

The  new  Cumberland  Presbytery,  at  its  fall  session  in 
1810,  gives  an  account  of  those  times,  and  particularly  of 
the  circumstances  which  led  to  its  formation.  As  it  admits 
us  into  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of  those  formative  days, 
and  will  always  be  a  document  of  permanent  value,  it  is 
thought  desirable  to  insert  it  here  in  full — especially  as  it 
is  presumed  to  be  one  of  the  objects  of  the  society  under 
whose  auspices  this  sketch  is  published  to  preserve  valu- 
able, original,  historical  documents. 

Addressed  to  the  Societies  and  Brethren  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  recently 
under  the  care  of  the  Council  by  the  late  Cumberland  Presbytery,  in  which 
there  is  a  correct  statement  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  termination  of 
the  difference  between  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  and  the  former  Presbytery 
of  Cumberland.  Russellville,  Ky.  Printed  by  Matthew  Duncan,  at  the 
office  of  the  "  Farmer's  Friend,"  1810. 

Dear  Brethren  :  The  time  is  at  last  come  when  we  must  either  sacrifice 
our  religious  liberties  and  conscience  to  what  we  judge  unreasonable  demands, 
cease  our  endeavors  to  promote  the  work  of  God  among  you  as  we  have 
hitherto  done,  or  constitute  a  Presbytery  separate  from  the  Synod  of  Ken- 
tucky. We  choose  the  latter  as  the  only  alternative  in  which  we  can  have 
the  answer  of  a  good  conscience.  We  therefore  deem  it  expedient  to  give 
you  a  retrospective  view  of  the  cause,  together  with  the  progressive  means 
by  which  matters  have  been  brought  to  this  issue. 

A  number  of  you  will  easily  recollect  that  about  the  close  of  the  last  cent- 
ury, or  beginning  of  the  present,  God  in  a  very  remarkable  manner  began 
to  revive  his  work  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  this  western  country,  the  first 
symptoms  of  which  appeared  under  the  ministerial  labors  of  the  Rev.  James 
McGready  in  Logan  County.  At  the  first  commencement  of  this  glorious 
revival,  as  also  in  its  progress,  the  bodily  affections  and  exercises  of  a  num- 
ber of  those  who  were  its  subjects  were  very  uncommon.    This  soon  caused 

272 


PROPOSITION  OF  REV.  DAVID  RICE. 


273 


a  rumor  to  go  abroad,  and  the  people  from  every  quarter  came  out  to  see. 
The  consequence  of  which  was,  they  not  only  had  their  curiosity  satisfied, 
but  a  great  number  had  their  hearts  deeply  affected.  This,  in  the  hand  of 
God,  was  a  blessed  means  of  spreading  the  work  through  various  parts  of 
our  country.  For  a  while,  at  first,  all  the  ministers  in  our  bounds  seemed 
to  participate  in  the  glorious  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and,  correspondent 
to  this,  proclaimed  themselves  friends  to  the  revival.  But  alas !  it  was  soon 
after  discoverable  that  some  of  them  had  changed  their  opinion,  otherwise 
they  had  never  been  well  established.  The  consequence  of  this  apparent 
change  may  easily  be  inferred ;  notwithstanding,  the  work  still  progressed. 
And  although  the  few  who  remained  friends  to  the  revival  labored  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry  night  and  day,  yet  the  cries  of  the  people  for  more 
preaching  were  incessant ;  and  those  cries  soon  became  so  general  that  they 
were  heard  from  many  parts  of  an  extensive  frontier.  The  ministers  in  re- 
turn could  only  pity  and  pray  for  them ;  the  congregations  being  so  numer- 
ous, and  in  such  a  scattered  situation,  that  they  could  not  by  any  possible 
endeavor  supply  them. 

About  this  time  a  venerable  father  in  the  ministry,1  who  was  then  resident 
in  one  of  the  upper  counties  of  Kentucky,  came  down  and  attended  a  com- 
munion with  some  of  our  preachers  in  a  vacant  congregation ;  and  he  having 
learned  the  situation  of  our  country,  and  the  pressing  demand  that  there  was 
for  more  preaching,  proposed  the  plan  of  encouraging  such  amongst  us  as 
appeared  to  be  men  of  good  talents,  and  who  also  discovered  a  disposition 
to  exercise  their  gifts  in  a  public  way,  to  preach  the  gospel,  although  they 
might  not  have  acquired  that  degree  of  human  education  which  the  letter  of 
discipline  requires.  This  proposition  was  truly  pleasing  to  our  preachers, 
and,  indeed,  it  found  general  acceptance  amongst  the  people  as  soon  as  inti- 
mations thereof  were  given.  The  consequence  was,  an  uncommon  spirit  of 
prayer  now  seemed  to  prevail  throughout  the  societies,  that  the  great  Head 
of  the  church  would  not  only  open  an  effectual  door  into  the  ministry,  but 
also  that  he  would  raise  up,  qualify,  and  bring  men  into  that  sacred  office, 
whose  labors  he  would  own  and  bless.  And,  brethren,  that  God  who  never 
told  Israel  to  seek  him  tn  vain  evidently  heard  and  answered  the  prayers  of 
his  people.  Some,  whose  minds  had  been  previously  impressed  with  the 
duty  of  calling  sinners  to  repentance,  and  of  bearing  public  testimony  to  the 
work  of  God  and  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  upon  whom  also  the  eyes 
of  the  church  for  some  time  had  been  fixed  with  a  degree  of  expectation,  now 
made  their  exercise  of  mind  on  this  subject  known  to  their  fathers  in  the 
ministry.  The  prospect  was  truly  pleasing  to  the  preachers,  yet  they  con- 
sidered it  expedient  to  act  with  the  greatest  caution ;  for  although  the  step 
about  to  be  taken  was  not  unprecedented  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  yet, 
seeing  it  was  out  of  the  common  track,  they  were  well  aware  that  some  of 
their  brethren  in  the  ministry  would  oppose  the  measure.    However,  they 

1  Rev.  David  Rice. 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  nr. 


ventured  to  encourage  three  or  four  of  the  young  men  to  prepare  written  dis- 
courses, and  present  them  to  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  as  a  specimen  of 
their  abilities.  They  accordingly  prepared  discourses,  and  at  the  next  stated 
session  of  said  Presbytery  their  case  was  brought  before  that  reverend  body. 
They  met  with  warm  opposition,  arising  principally,  however,  from  a  quarter 
rather  inimical  to  the  revival.  But  after  a  lengthy  conversation  on  the  sub- 
ject, in  which  there  was  much  altercation,  a  majority  of  the  members  con- 
sented and  agreed  that  the  young  men  might  be  permitted  to  read  their  dis- 
courses to  an  aged  member  alone,  who  should  make  report  to  the  judicature. 
We  believe  the  report  was  favorable.  It  was  then  directed,  as  well  as  we  can 
recollect,  that  those  men  should  prepare  other  discourses  to  be  read  at  the 
next  Presbytery.  They  accordingly  prepared,  and  three  of  them  attended ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  subject  of  their  case  was  resumed,  a  warm  debate  ensued. 
At  length,  however,  a  majority  of  the  members  agreed  to  hear  their  dis- 
courses. After  they  were  read  the  question  was  put:  "Shall  these  men  be 
received  as  candidates  for  the  ministry  ?  "  The  vote  being  taken,  one  of  the 
three  was  received,  and  two  rejected  by  a  majority  of  one  vote  only.  This 
circumstance  much  depressed  the  spirits  of  a  number  of  the  preachers  who 
were  real  friends  to  the  revival,  and  likewise  the  congregations  generally, 
who  had  so  earnestly  desired  their  licensure ;  but  more  especially  the  spirits 
of  those  two  candidates  were  depressed.  They  were  men  in  a  matrimonial 
state,  and  could  not,  consistently  with  those  relative  duties  by  which  they 
were  bound  to  their  families,  go  and  acquire  the  knowledge  of  all  those  forms 
of  literature  required  by  the  Book  of  Discipline.  Fain  would  they  have  re- 
turned home  and  solaced  themselves  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  domestic  com- 
forts as  private  Christians,  if  they  could  have  done  so  and  kept  a  good  con- 
science ;  but  this  they  could  not  do ;  nor  could  they  with  clearness  become 
members  of  any  other  Christian  society  where  the  ministerial  door  was  not 
so  strait  and  difficult,  and  consequently  where  they  might  have  been  at  liberty 
to  exercise  their  popular  talents  with  approbation.  Xo  ;  they  were  attached 
to  all  the  essential  doctrines  and  likewise  the  Discipline  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  It  was  in  this  church  they  were  early  dedicated  to  God  by  their 
parents,  and  in  this  church  they  first  felt  the  power  of  the  gospel  upon  their 
hearts,  and  tasted  the  sweetness  of  that  grace  which  brings  salvation  to  man. 
Therefore,  in  the  communion  of  this  church  they  earnestly  desired  to  live 
and  die. 

By  this  time  a  number  of  others,  who  were  generally  esteemed  eminent  for 
gifts  and  piety,  together  with  those  who  had  already  offered  as  candidates, 
became  all  solemnly  impressed  to  proclaim  the  word  of  life  and  salvation  to 
sinners.    But  alas!  the  door  of  admittance  seemed  to  be  shut  against  them. 

In  this  dark  state  of  matters,  both  the  ministers  themselves,  and  likewise 
the  candidates  who  had  already  offered,  and  others  who  were  looking  forward 
toward  the  ministry,  together  with  all  the  societies  in  our  bounds,  began  now, 
in  good  earnest,  to  realize  the  necessity  of  crying  mightily  to  that  God  who  has 
church  judicatures  in  his  hands  as  well  as  the  hearts  of  individuals.    In  the 


CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERY  FORMED,  275 


meantime,  candidates  and  other  eminent  characters  who  were  assiduously  en- 
deavoring in  one  way  or  another  to  promote  the  work  of  God  were  encour- 
aged by  their  fathers  in  the  ministry  to  continue  the  exercise  of  their  gifts  in 
away  of  public  exhortation,  which  several  of  them  did,  laboring  much  till  the 
next  Presbytery ;  at  which  time  several  petitions  were  presented  with  hun- 
dreds of  signatures,  praying  the  Presbytery  to  license  and  send  to  their  relief 
certain  denominated  persons.  The  subject  was  again  taken  into  considera- 
tion, after  which  the  Presbytery,  who  were  personally  acquainted  with  those 
men  embraced  in  the  petitions,  knowing  their  piety,  soundness  in  the  faith, 
aptness  to  teach,  etc.,  and  taking  into  view  the  situation  of  the  congregations 
and  the  extraordinary  demand  for  preaching,  determined  to  hear  trial  ser- 
mons from  three  or  four  of  them  (at  the  present  session),  to  be  considered 
as  popular  discourses  :  which  accordingly  were  delivered  and  sustained  by  a 
large  majority  of  the  judicature.  And  after  an  examination  on  various  sub- 
jects touching  the  ministry,  which  was  also  sustained,  they  were  "  licensed 
to  preach  the  gospel  within  the  bounds  of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery,  or 
wherever  else  God  in  his  providence  might  call  them." 

Certain  members  who  had  always  been  opposed  to  the  measure  entered 
their  protest  against  the  proceedings  of  the  majority.  But  the  majority  were 
not  deterred  thereby  from  pursuing  in  their  official  capacity  that  method 
which  they  conscientiously  believed  best  calculated  to  promote  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  in  the  world. 

The  Synod  not  long  after  this  divided  the  Transylvania  Presbytery,  and 
formed  what  was  called  the  Cumberland  Presbytery ;  the  bounds  of  which 
included  all  the  members  that  attended  the  preceding  session  of  the  Transyl- 
vania Presbytery.  Which  act  gave  a  decided  majority  in  the  new  Presbytery 
to  the  promoters  of  the  revival  and  those  who  were  friendly  to  the  licensure 
of  the  aforementioned  young  men :  which  majority  ever  after  continued,  and 
increased  until  the  Presbytery  were  dissolved. 

The  licensing  of  these  men  on  the  petition  of  the  congregations  seemed  to 
be  a  means  in  God's  hand  of  increasing,  instead  of  decreasing,  the  demand 
for  supplies.  They,  the  preachers,  laboring  both  night  and  day,  leaving  their 
families  for  considerable  lengths  of  time,  preaching  the  Word,  planting  new 
societies,  and  watering  those  that  were  planted,  would  necessarily  increase 
such  demand,  if  attended  with  the  divine  influence.  And,  brethren,  we  need 
only  appeal  to  many  of  you  to  witness  the  success  that  evidently  attended 
those  men's  labors.  The  feeling  and  experience  of  your  own  hearts  are 
better  evidences  to  you  on  that  subject  than  all  the  reasons  that  could  be 
advanced.  Though  you  may  have  ten  thousand  instructors,  yet  you  have  not 
many  fathers  in  Christ. 

The  Presbytery,  in  pursuing  what  they  believed  to  be  their  duty,  continued 
from  time  to  time  to  license  and  ordain  such  men,  both  learned  and  unlearned 
(what  is  meant  by  unlearned  here,  is  not  a  want  of  common  English  educa- 
tion), as  they  thought  would  be  useful  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 
And  if  the  old  maxim  be  a  good  one,  "Judge  of  causes  by  their  effects,"  the 


276  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  IV. 


Presbytery  will  never  have  just  cause  to  regret  that  they  engaged  in  and  pur- 
sued such  measures  ;  for  it  is  an  incontestable  fact  (judging  by  our  Lord's 
rule,  "By  their  fruit  ye  shall  know  them  ")  that  there  are  multitudes  of  both 
men  and  women  who  will  have  cause  to  rejoice  eternally  that  ever  they  heard 
those  men  preach  a  crucified  Christ. 

The  members  who  entered  their  protest  sent  a  petition  to  the  next  session 
of  Synod,  referring  them  to  the  protest,  "  which  they  thought  should  have 
operated  as  an  appeal,"  in  which  they  complained  of  various  irregularities  in 
the  Cumberland  Presbytery  with  respect  to  the  licensure  and  ordination  of 
men  to  the  ministry.  The  Synod  at  that  time  did  or  said  but  little  about 
the  matter ;  but  at  their  succeeding  session  they  appointed  a  commission  of 
Synod  to  meet  shortly  afterward  in  the  bounds  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
tery at  Gasper  River,  and  directed  certain  members  of  the  commission  to  cite, 
previously  to  that  meeting,  all  our  preachers,  licentiates,  candidates,  and  pub- 
lic exhorters,1  who  generally  met  in  obedience  to  the  citation. 

We  would  observe  here,  brethren,  that  although  the  appointment  of  the 
commission  was  (we  hope)  well  intended,  yet  we  believe  it  was  unhappily 
selected,  as  to  a  part  of  it,  from  what  appeared  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
mission.  A  number  of  that  body,  however,  both  preachers  and  elders,  were 
meek  and  friendly  disposed  men,  who  felt  themselves,  as  brethren,  disposed 
to  pursue  the  most  pacific  measures  (according  to  their  order  from  the  stated 
Synod)  to  heal  the  breach  that  threatened  the  church.  But,  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  notorious  that  another  part  of  that  body  were  men  of  different  tempers  ; 
and  it  was  an  unfortunate  circumstance  that  those  men  were  the  most  forward 
influential  members. 

After  the  commission  had  met,  and  also  the  accused  (who  were  then  known 
as  the  majority  of  the  Cumberland  Presbytery),  the  commission  selected  from 
the  minutes  and  other  sources  a  number  of  irregularities,  as  chargeable  against 
the  majority  of  the  Presbytery.  All  of  which,  however,  were  comprised  in 
the  two  following  particulars,  to  wit:  first,  "the  licensing  unlearned  men,  or 
such  as  had  not  been  examined  on  the  learned  languages,  etc.  ;  secondly, 
that  those  men  who  were  licensed,  both  learned  and  unlearned,  were  only 
required  to  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  partially — that  is,  as  far  as  they 
believed  it  to  agree  with  the  Word  of  God." 

As  to  the  first  ground  of  complaint,  the  Presbytery  not  only  pleaded  the 
exception  made  in  the  Discipline  in  extraordinary  cases,  but  also  the  exam- 
ple of  a  number  of  the  presbyteries  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States.2 

1  There  was  much  noise  about  so  many  exhorters  having  been  authorized 
by  the  Presbytery.  The  members  thought  with  the  Apostle  that  it  was  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  all  Christians  to  exhort  in  some  manner ;  and  the  de- 
sign they  had  in  licensing  such  as  made  application  was  to  give  them  more 
weight  among  the  people,  without  the  most  distant  prospect  of  licensing  them 
to  preach  except  those  whose  talents  would  have  justified  such  an  act. 

2  Among  the  many  instances  of  this  kind  that  might  be  mentioned  are  the 
following,  to  wit :  Mr.  Beck,  who  was  received  by  the  Presbytery  in  North 


STRIFE  BETWEEN  PRESBYTER Y  AND  SYNOD.  277 


They  moreover  appealed  to  a  higher  authority  than  either  of  the  foregoing, 
which  was,  the  New  Testament,  and  inquired  if  there  was  any  precept  or  ex- 
ample in  that  which  condemned  the  practice  of  licensing  what  they  (the  com- 
mission) called  unlearned  men  to  preach  the  gospel?  It  was  likewise  asked 
if  God  could  not  as  easily  call  a  Presbyterian  to  preach  who  had  not  a  liberal 
education,  as  he  could  a  Methodist  or  Baptist?  a  number  of  whom  are  ac- 
knowledged to  be  respectable  and  useful  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

As  to  the  second  point,  the  Synod  had  suggested  that  the  candidates  could 
have  adopted  the  "Alcoran  "  in  the  same  manner  they  adopted  the  Confession 
of  Faith.  This  was  acknowledged  to  be  literally  true,  but  not  applicable  in 
the  case  of  the  young  men.  For  the  Presbytery  contended  that  the  very  act 
of  the  candidates  receiving  the  Confession  at  all  was  an  evidence  that  they 
esteemed  it  above  all  human  creeds.  And  the  exception,  or  condition  in 
which  they  were  indulged,  was  only  designed  to  meet  some  conscientious 
scruples  in  points  not  fundamental  nor  essential — particularly  the  idea  of 
fatality,  that  seemed  to  some  of  them  to  be  there  taught  under  the  high  and 
mysterious  doctrine  of  predestination. 

The  reasons  offered  by  the  Presbytery  on  those  points  did  not  appear  satis- 
factory to  the  commission  of  Synod :  therefore,  much  altercation  took  place, 
during  which  time  no  doubt  but  Christ  was  wounded  in  the  house  of  his  friends 
by  some  (perhaps)  of  both  judicatures.  It  is  well  recollected,  at  any  rate, 
that  the  Presbytery,  during  the  debate,  were  often  reminded  by  certain  mem- 
bers of  the  commission  that  they  stood  at  their  (the  commissioners')  bar! 
Indeed,  brethren,  it  appeared  to  us  very  notorious  that  some  of  the  leading 
members  of  that  body  assumed  attitudes  and  an  authority  which  but  illy  corn- 
Carolina  ;  Mr.  Bloodworth,  by  Orange  ;  Mr.  Moore,  by  Hanover  ;  Mr.  Marquis, 
by  Redstone;  and  Mr.  Kemper  and  Mr.  Abell,  by  the  Transylvania  Presby- 
teries. Likewise,  in  Pennsylvania,  many  years  ago,  a  poor  illiterate  man,  a 
native  of  Wales,  conceiving  that  he  had  an  internal  call  to  preach  the  gospel, 
made  his  case  known  to  the  Presbytery.  But  because  he  was  not  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  the  English  language  to  undergo  an  examination  in  it,  or  in 
any  other  but  his  mother-tongue,  the  Presbytery,  therefore,  instead  of  treat- 
ing him  without  notice,  sent  to  Virginia  for  President  Davis,  who  was  also  a 
native  of  Wales,  to  perform  the  necessary  examination  previous  to  licensure, 
and  who  on  his  return  to  Virginia  declared  that  he  never  had  assisted  in 
bringing  a  man  into  the  ministry  with  greater  freedom  in  his  life. 

In  short,  the  majority  of  Cumberland  Presbytery  were  of  opinion  that  the 
compilers  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Discipline  of  our  church  never  in- 
tended the  rules  there  laid  down  for  examination  and  trial  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry  to  be  considered  an  infallible  standard  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
must  be  limited  when  he  calls  men  to  that  sacred  office.  They  had  no  doubt 
but  that  reverend  body,  at  the  same  time  that  they  laid  down  those  pruden- 
tial rules,  believed  that  the  great  Head  of  the  church  could,  and  actually  did, 
when  he  thought  proper,  bring  men  into  the  ministry  without  the  aid  of  those 
literary  qualifications.  And  if  granted  that  he  might  in  one  instance,  why 
not  in  more — yea,  why  not  in  many?   Who  will  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel? 


278 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  iv. 


ported  with  the  character  of  ministers  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  sent  on 
a  pacific  mission. 

After  much  reasoning  as  well  as  positive  assertion  on  the  subject,  the  com- 
mission demanded  of  the  Presbytery  to  give  up  to  them  all  those  men  whom 
they  had  licensed  and  ordained  for  reexamination.  The  Presbytery  refused, 
suggesting  the  danger  of  the  example,  and  also  that  such  a  demand  was  with- 
out precedent.  They  moreover  declared  that  they  believed  the  Discipline  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  had  deposited  the  sole  power  in  the  several  presby- 
teries to  judge  of  the  faith  and  qualifications  of  their  own  candidates  for  the 
ministry.1 

After  the  refusal  of  the  Presbytery,  the  moderator  of  the  commission  pro- 
ceeded to  adjure  the  young  men  to  submit  to  their  authority  and  be  reexam- 
ined; when  one  of  them  asked  liberty  for  himself  and  brethren  to  retire  and 
ask  counsel  of  God  before  they  would  give  an  answer.  This  reasonable  re- 
quest was  at  first  strongly  opposed  by  one  or  two  leading  members  of  the 
commission,  but  at  length  it  was  granted,  and  the  young  men  retired  to  ask 
counsel  of  Him  who  is  all-wise.  In  a  short  time  after,  they  returned,  when 
they  were  asked  individually  if  they  would  submit  as  above.  They  all  (ex- 
cept one  or  two  who  wanted  longer  time  to  deliberate)  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive, for  the  following  reasons,  to  wit :  first,  they  believed  the  Cumberland 
Presbytery,  which  was  a  regular  church  judicature,  to  be  competent  judges 
of  the  faith  and  abilities  of  their  own  candidates  ;  secondly,  that  they  them- 
selves had  not  been  charged  with  heresy  or  immorality ;  and  if  they  had,  the 
Presbytery  would  have  been  the  proper  judicature  first  to  have  called  them 
to  an  account.  Notwithstanding,  the  commission  of  Synod  proceeded  form- 
ally to  prohibit  all  the  men,  learned  and  unlearned,  whom  the  Cumberland 
Presbytery  had  licensed  and  ordained  from  preaching  the  gospel  in  the  name 
of  Presbyterians !  And  also  cited  what  were  called  the  Old  Members  to  attend 
the  next  stated  session  of  Synod  to  be  examined  on  faith,  and  to  answer  for 
not  having  given  up  their  young  brethren  to  be  reexamined. 

Here,  brethren,  we  would  ask  (knowing  that  a  number  of  you  have  been 
thirty  or  forty  years  regular  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church)  if  ever  you 
knew  an  instance,  either  in  Europe  or  America,  of  a  Synod  undertaking  to 
prohibit  preachers  who  had  not  been  accused  by  their  own  or  any  other  Pres- 
bytery? We  would  also  ask,  if  ever  you  knew  an  instance  of  any  Reformed 
Church  judicature  silencing  a  minister  or  ministers  who  had  not  been  charged 
with  heresy,  immorality,  nor  even  what  our  Discipline  calls  contumacy?  This 
was  certainly  the  case  with  the  young  men.  That  is,  they  were  not  charged 
with  either  of  the  above,  yet  they  were  prohibited,  and  the  Presbytery  cen- 
sured, because  they  would  not  acknowledge  the  authority  by  which  it  was  done. 

1  On  the  principles  of  the  commission's  demand,  no  Presbytery  would 
know  when  there  was  an  addition  made  to  their  body  by  a  new  ordination, 
inasmuch  as  the  next  Synod  might  demand  a  reexamination  of  the  newly 
ordained  minister,  judge  him  unqualified,  and  declare  he  should  no  longer 
preach  as  a  Presbyterian. 


STRIFE  CONTINUED. 


279 


The  members  of  Presbytery  then  retired  to  consult  what  was  best  to  be 
done  (but  not  in  a  presbyterial  capacity),  and  after  deliberation  they  agreed 
to  encourage  the  young  men  to  continue  the  exercise  of  their  respective  func- 
tions, which  they  themselves  determined  to  do :  except  in  such  business  as 
required  the  act  of  a  Presbytery. 

Some  months  after,  there  was  a  general  meeting  or  council  held  at  Shiloh, 
consisting  of  the  ministers,  elders,  and  representatives  from  vacancies  which 
formerly  composed  a  majority  of  Cumberland  Presbytery.  At  that  council  it 
was  agreed  on  to  petition  the  General  Assembly,  and  in  the  meantime  cease 
our  operations  as  a  Presbytery,  but  continue  to  meet  from  time  to  time  in  the 
capacity  of  a  council,  and  promote  the  interest  of  the  church  as  well  as  we 
could,  until  an  answer  could  be  obtained  from  the  Assembly.  The  council, 
at  this  meeting,  unanimously  declared  it  to  be  their  opinion  that  the  commis- 
sion of  Synod  had  acted  contrary  to  Discipline,  which  opinion  was  corrobo- 
rated by  the  next  Assembly  (though  not  officially),  according  to  a  private  let- 
ter from  a  respectable  member  of  that  body,  a  part  of  which  is  as  follows : 

"  The  unhappy  differences  in  your  quarter,  so  immediately  succeeding  what 
a  great  proportion  of  the  Presbyterian  interest,  in  this  place,  believed  to  be 
a  great  revival  of  the  work  of  God,  has  excited  deep  concern,  and  our  Gen- 
eral Assembly  have  had  the  matter  fully  before  them.  It  appeared  to  be  the 
decided  opinion  of  the  majority  in  the  General  Assembly  that  no  Synod  has 
a  right  to  proceed  against  ministers  or  individuals  except  the  matter  shall 
have  come  before  them  by  appeal  from  the  Presbytery ;  that  only  a  Pres- 
bytery could  call  its  members  to  account  for  errors  in  doctrine  or  practice ; 
that  a  man  once  ordained  by  a  Presbytery  is  an  ordained  minister,  though 
the  Presbytery  may  have  acted  improperly  in  not  requiring  the  due  qualifica- 
tions, and  that  even  a  Presbytery  could  not  afterward  depose,  but  for  cause 
arising  or  made  public  after  ordination ;  that  licentiates  are  always  in  the 
power  of  their  Presbytery  to  examine  them  and  to  withdraw  their  licensure 
at  discretion  ;  but  that  a  Synod  may  act  against  a  Presbytery,  as  such,  by 
dissolving,  dividing,  censuring,  etc.  :  consequently,  that  the  dealings  with 
Cumberland  Presbytery  were  legal  in  dissolving  them  and  annexing  them 
to  Transylvania,  but  wholly  improper  in  suspending  ordained  ministers,  and 
still  more  improper  was  it  for  a  commission  of  Synod  to  do  it.  But  though 
the  rule  about  knowledge  of  languages  in  our  Discipline  is  not  often  fully 
complied  with,  and  though  the  rule  is  not  found  in  the  Scriptures,  yet  it  is 
so  important,  that  though  your  case  was  an  imperious  one,  yet  they  seemed 
to  fear  you  had  gone  too  far,  especially  in  the  licensures.  But  what  the 
General  Assembly  hath  finally  done  will  appear  very  inconclusive  on  these 
points,  because  they  wished  to  avoid  offending  the  Synod  and  the  Presbytery ; 
and  the  minority  in  the  Assembly  took  advantage  of  this  to  make  the  business 
end  as  much  as  possible  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  be  construed  against  the 
power  of  Synods  and  General  Assemblies.  The  General  Assembly  have, 
however,  questioned  the  regularity  of  the  proceedings  of  your  Synod." 

You  may  see,  brethren,  in  the  foregoing  extract,  what  was  the  decided 


28o 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  iv. 


opinion  of  what  may  be  called  the  collected  wisdom  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States  on  the  points  for  which  we  contended ;  and  per- 
haps, in  examining  the  list  of  commissioners  who  composed  the  Assembly, 
the  members  will  be  found  to  stand  as  high  for  learning,  integrity,  and  piety 
as  a  subsequent  Assembly,  who  differed  with  them  in  opinion.  You  will, 
moreover,  see  the  reason  why  we  were  not  profited  by  the  favorable  opinion 
of  the  Assembly.  As  to  the  Assembly's  fearing  we  had  "  gone  too  far  in  the 
licensures,"  we  will  not  pretend  to  say  their  fears  were  altogether  without 
foundation.  Nevertheless,  the  Presbytery  who  have  been  without  sin  on 
this  subject  "may  cast  the  first  stone" — that  is,  the  Presbytery  who  have 
licensed  as  many  as  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  have  done,  and  who  have 
licensed  no  improper  person  to  preach  the  gospel.1 

The  Assembly  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Synod  informing  them  that  what 
they  had  done  "  was  at  least  of  questionable  regularity,"  and  requested  them 
to  review  their  proceedings,  and  rectify  what  might  have  been  done  amiss. 
The  Synod,  we  under-stood,  reviewed,  but  confirmed  all  their  commission  had 
done.  The  council,  notwithstanding,  were  encouraged  to  forward  another 
petition.  After  which  we  were  informed,  by  a  private  letter  from  another 
influential  member  of  the  Assembly,  that  it  would  be  most  proper  for  us  to 
apply  to  the  Synod  to  rescind  their  former  order  as  it  respected  the  Presby- 
tery, and  if  they  refused,  then  for  the  council  to  appeal  to  the  Assembly,  who, 
"  no  doubt,  would  redress  their  grievances."  The  official  letter  of  that  As- 
sembly not  having  come  to  hand,  the  council  thought  it  prudent  to  postpone 
doing  anything  in  it  until  such  letter  could  be  seen.  After  it  was  seen  a 
number  of  the  members  of  council  thought  the  prospect  of  a  redress  of  griev- 
ances not  flattering,  and  at  the  next  council  it  was  voted  by  a  large  majority 
to  go  into  a  constituted  state,  and  in  that  capacity  address  the  General  As- 
sembly. But  by  reason  of  the  minority  refusing  to  acquiesce  in  what  the 
majority  had  done,  the  council  did  not  still  constitute  a  Presbytery.  After 
some  time,  some  of  those  who  were  of  the  majority  felt  willing  to  comply 
with  the  recommendation  of  the  member  who  wrote  to  us  and  told  us  to  go 
up  by  appeal  from  the  Synod.  But  before  there  was  an  opportunity  of  doing 
so  (after  such  conclusion),  we  heard,  to  our  astonishment,  that  the  Assembly 
had  decided  in  favor  of  the  Synod.  This  step  at  once  superseded  the  neces- 
sity of  an  appeal ;  therefore  the  council  generally  thought  it  was  now  time  to 
constitute  into  a  Presbytery,  and  proceed  to  business  again  in  that  capacity. 
But  some  of  the  members  wished  to  make  the  last  effort  with  the  Synod,  who 
now  had  the  business  in  their  own  hands,  and  the  whole  agreed,  at  the  Ridge 
Meeting-house  in  August  last,  to  propose  their  last  terms  and  forward  them 
to  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  or  Synod  by  two  commissioners  'to  be  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  which  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  terms  in  sub- 
stance were  as  follows  : 

1  The  Cumberland  Presbytery  have  reason  to  thank  God  that  every  man 
whom  they  licensed  (except  one  individual)  continues  to  believe,  preach,  and 
practice  the  gospel  of  Christ. 


DESIRE  FOR  PEACE. 


28l 


"  We,  the  preachers  belonging  to  the  council,  both  old  and  young,  from 
a  sincere  desire  to  be  in  union  with  the  general  body  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  are  willing  to  be  examined  on  the  tenets  of  our  holy  religion  by  the 
Transylvania  Presbytery,  Synod,  or  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose ; 
taking  along  the  idea,  however,  that  we  be  received  or  rejected  as  a  connected 
body.  Also  all  our  ministers,  ordained  and  licentiates,  retain  their  former 
authority  derived  from  the  Cumberland  Presbytery.  It  was  moreover  under- 
stood, that  if  the  Synod  should  require  the  preachers  to  re-adopt  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  it  should  be  with  the  exception  of  fatality  only." 

Our  commissioners  were  directed  to  go,  and  take  a  copy  of  the  above  min- 
ute, without  any  discretionary  power  whatsoever  to  alter  the  propositions  in 
any  way.  And  it  was  unanimously  agreed  and  determined,  that  if  the  Synod 
would  not  accede  to  the  propositions,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  October 
ensuing  they  (the  whole  council)  would  go  into  a  constituted  state.  The 
commissioners  accordingly  went  to  the  Synod,  and  after  their  return  informed 
us  that  the  Synod  would  not  consider  our  case  as  a  body,  but  as  individuals  ; 
neither  would  they  suffer  any  of  our  preachers  to  make  the  exception  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith. 

The  commissioners,  notwithstanding,  obtained  an  order  for  an  intermediate 
Presbytery  "to  be  held  at  Greentown,  to  consider  the  case  of  Mr.  Hodge 
and  others."  Here,  brethren,  we  will  insert  for  your  information  the  minute 
of  the  last  council,  and  also  the  preamble  to  the  minute  of  our  first  Presbytery  : 

"  The  council  met  at  Shiloh,  agreeably  to  adjournment  on  the  fourth  Tues- 
day in  October,  1809.  Whereupon  Mr.  King  was  appointed  to  the  chair, 
and  Thomas  Donald,  clerk.    The  council  opened  by  prayer. 

"  Inquiry  was  made  what  progress  the  commissioners  had  made  at  the 
Transylvania  Presbytery  (or  Synod)  toward  bringing  about  a  reconciliation, 
and  how  those  judicatures  had  treated  the  propositions  of  the  last  council. 
Mr.  Hodge,  after  some  preliminary  remarks  (in  which  he  suggested  that  he 
thought  the  commissioners  had  obtained  a  compliance  with  the  substance  of 
the  council's  propositions),  read  a  copy  of  a  petition  he  had  presented  to  the 
Synod,  and  the  Synod's  order  on  that  petition.  After  the  matter  was  dis- 
cussed, and  after  the  minute  of  the  last  council  on  that  subject  was  read  and 
compared  with  the  petition  and  order  above,  the  vote  was  taken  whether  or 
not  the  Synod  had  complied  with  the  propositions  of  the  council — which  was 
decided  in  the  negative  by  a  very  large  majority.  The  vote  was  then  taken 
whether  or  not  the  council  would  put  the  resolution  of  last  council  into  exe- 
cution (which  went  solemnly  to  declare  that  unless  the  Synod  acceded  to  their 
propositions  they  would  on  this  day  constitute  into  a  Presbytery),  which  was 
carried  in  the  affirmative  by  a  large  majority.  After  which  Messrs.  William 
and  Samuel  Plodge,  ministers,  and  Thomas  Donald,  elder,  withdrew  from 
the  council,  virtually  declaring  their  intention  to  join  the  Transylvania  Pres- 
bytery. There  being  then  only  three  ordained  ministers  present,  it  was  in- 
quired whether  they  were  now  ready  to  go  into  a  constituted  state — when  it 
was  found  that  one  of  them  was  embarrassed  in  his  mind.    The  council  then 


282 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  iv. 


adjourned  and  met  again,  waiting  the  decision  of  that  member,  who  at  lengtli 
declared  he  could  not  feel  free  at  the  present  time  to  constitute.  The  councd 
then,  together  with  all  the  licentiates  and  candidates  present,  formed  into  a 
committee  and  entered  upon  a  free  conversation  on  the  subject  before  them. 

"  When  it  was  finally  agreed  to  that  each  ordained  minister,  licentiate, 
elder,  and  representative  shall  continue  in  union,  and  use  their  influence  to 
keep  the  societies  in  union,  until  the  third  Tuesday  in  March  next,  and  then 
meet  at  the  Ridge  Meeting-house. 

"After  which  each  one  shall  be  at  liberty  from  this  bond,  unless,  previ- 
ously to  that  time,  three  ordained  ministers  belonging  to  this  body  should 
have  constituted  a  Presbytery.  Then  in  that  case  the  committee  will  all  con- 
sider the  bond  of  union  perpetual.  Which  Presbytery,  after  doing  such  busi- 
ness as  they  may  think  proper,  are  to  adjourn  to  meet  at  the  Ridge  Meeting- 
house the  said  third  Tuesday  in  March  in  a  presbyterial  capacity. 

"  Samuel  King,  Chairman. 

"  In  Dixon  County,  Tennessee  State,  at  the  Rev.  Samuel  McAdow's  this 
fourth  day  of  February,  1810. 

"  We,  Samuel  McAdow,  Finis  Ewing,  and  Samuel  King,  regularly  or- 
dained ministers  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  against  whom  no  charge,  either 
of  immorality  or  heresy,  has  ever  been  exhibited  before  any  of  the  church 
judicatures,  having  waited  in  vain  more  than  four  years,  in  the  meantime 
petitioning  the  General  Assembly  for  a  redress  of  grievances  and  a  restora- 
tion of  our  violated  rights,  have  and  do  hereby  agree  and  determine  to  con- 
stitute into  a  Presbytery,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Cumberland  Presbytery, 
on  the  following  conditions,  to  wit :  all  candidates  for  the  ministry  who  may 
hereafter  be  licensed  by  this  Presbytery,  and  all  the  licentiates  or  probationers 
who  may  hereafter  be  ordained  by  this  Presbytery,  shall  be  required,  before 
such  licensure  and  ordination,  to  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  and  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  except  the  idea  of  fatality,  that  seems  to 
be  taught  under  the  mysterious  doctrine  of  predestination.  It  is  to  be  under- 
stood, however,  that  such  as  can  clearly  receive  the  Confession  without  an 
exception  shall  not  be  required  to  make  any.  Moreover,  all  licentiates,  be- 
fore they  are  set  apart  to  the  whole  work  of  the  ministry  (or  ordained),  shall 
be  required  to  undergo  an  examination  on  English  grammar,  geography, 
astronomy,  natural  and  moral  philosophy,  and  church  history.1  The  Presby- 
tery may  also  require  an  examination  on  all  or  any  part  of  the  above  branches 
of  literature,  before  licensure,  if  they  deem  it  expedient." 

Thus,  brethren,  we  have,  in  the  integrity  of  our  hearts,  endeavored  to  give 
you  as  correct  and  impartial  an  account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  cause 
or  causes  that  have  brought  us  into  our  present  situation,  as  justice  to  our- 

1  It  will  not  be  understood  that  examinations  on  experimental  religion  and 
theology  will  be  omitted. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  COUNCIL. 


283 


selves  and  our  best  recollection  would  admit.  We  have  not  intentionally 
and  unjustly  exposed  or  covered  the  conduct  of  any  man  or  judicature.  We 
have  only  aimed  at  giving  a  clear,  honest  view  of  the  matter,  that  you  might 
be  enabled  to  judge  for  yourselves  whether  we  have  acted  with  propriety  or 
impropriety.    If  we  be  in  error,  we  are  not  conscious  of  it. 

We  think,  brethren,  precipitancy  or  rashness  cannot  be  justly  imputed  to 
us  in  the  present  case.  We  have  waited  in  an  unorganized  state  for  more 
than  four  years,  and  in  that  time  have  repeatedly  prayed  the  judicatures  to 
redress  our  grievances,  and  have  not  contended  for  one  privilege  but  what 
we  conscientiously  believe  God's  Word  allows  us.  If  we  had  sought  or  de- 
sired an  occasion  to  make  a  schism  in  the  church,  we  had  an  excellent  pre- 
text, after  the  unprecedented  conduct  of  the  commission  of  Synod  toward  us. 
But  instead  of  this,  we  voluntarily  suspended  our  operations  as  a  Presbytery, 
and  waited  from  year  to  year  (being  beset  on  every  side),  hoping  the  matter 
might  be  settled  on  principles  just  and  equitable.  We  said  "  beset  on  every 
side  " ;  yes,  brethren,  a  number  of  you  know  that  various  sectaries  took  the 
advantage  of  our  forbearance  and  peculiar  situation,  and  endeavored  to  rend 
our  flourishing  congregations.  The  swarms  of  heretics,  and  fanatics  also, 
who  came  down  from  the  upper  counties  of  Kentucky  gave  us  much  perplex- 
ity. Yet  we  determined,  through  grace,  to  stand  firm  and  continue  to  appeal 
to  the  reason  and  justice  of  the  higher  judicatures  until  we  were  assured  they 
were  not  disposed  to  restore  our  rights.  This  assurance  we  have  at  length 
obtained,  and  there  was  no  alternative  left  us  but  either  to  violate  our  solemn 
vows  to  our  brethren — act  contrary  to  our  reason  and  conscience — or  form 
ourselves  into  a  Presbytery  separate  from  the  Kentucky  Synod.  This  step 
at  first  view  may  alarm  some  of  you,  but  be  assured,  brethren,  that  although 
we  are  not  now  united  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  external  bond  of 
Discipline,  we  feel  as  much  union  in  heart  as  formerly.  And  we  would 
further  assure  you  that  we  have  not  set  up  as  a  party  inimical  to  the  general 
Presbyterian  Church.  No :  we  ourselves  are  Presbyterians,  and  expect  ever 
to  remain  so,  whether  united  to  the  general  body  or  not. 

Permit  us  further  to  inform  you  what  we  do  know  to  be  an  incontestable 
fact — that  is,  there  are  a  number  of  ministers  who  are  kept  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  who  have  deviated  infinitely  more  from  the  Confes- 
sion than  we  have  done.  One  can  boldly  deny  the  imputation  of  Christ's 
active  obedience  to  the  sinner  in  justification  and  publish  it  to  the  world; 
another  can  deny  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  work  of  regenera- 
tion ;  1  and  yet  we,  who  only  object  to  the  unqualified  idea  of  eternal  repro- 
bation, cannot  be  indulged  in  that  objection! 

It  has  been  said  that  if  all  the  ministers  belonging  to  the  council  had  con- 
tinued together  and  had  constituted  into  a  Presbytery,  it  would  have  been 
much  better.    Brethren,  if  individuals,  for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves 

1  See  Mr.  Davis's  publication  of  South  Carolina  and  Mr.  Craighead's  of 
Tennessee. 


284 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  iv. 


and  their  God,  have  thought  proper  to  change  a  position  in  which  we  thought 
God  had  blessed  them,  we  have  not  yet  felt  at  liberty  to  do  so  likewise.  We 
have  to  account  to  God  and  our  own  conscience  how  we  have  acted  in  this 
matter. 

Some  have  feared  because  of  the  smallness  of  our  number.  Brethren,  we 
have  yet  left  in  the  bounds  of  our  Presbytery  almost  as  many  ministers,  ex- 
clusive of  candidates,  as  our  blessed  Lord  chose  to  spread  the  gospel  through 
the  world.  And  whilst  we  acknowledge  the  greatest  inferiority  to  those 
twelve  champions  of  the  gospel,  yet  we  profess  to  believe  that  neither  the 
standing  nor  reputation  of  a  people  depends  on  their  numbers.  If  this  were 
admitted,  the  Roman  Church  when  it  was  at  its  zenith  of  superstition  and 
idolatry  would  have  been  the  most  permanent  and  respectable  in  the  world. 
But  the  Reformation  and  subsequent  events  have  taught  us  that  was  not  the 
case  with  her.  But  notwithstanding,  some  individuals  have  changed  their 
ground  ;  yet,  as  far  as  we  have  learned,  but  very  few  of  the  numerous  and 
respectable  societies  or  congregations  have  abandoned  us  ;  and  many  individ- 
uals of  those  few  were  partly  constrained  to  do  as  they  have  done  from  their 
local  situation. 

Some  of  you  are  afraid  you  cannot  be  supplied  by  the  Presbytery.  Breth- 
ren, the  same  almighty  Lord  of  the  hat-vest  who  heard  your  prayers  on  that 
subject  ten  years  ago  is  willing  to  hear  again.  Is  the  harvest  indeed  great 
and  the  laborers  fr<.u  ?    Well,  then,  pray  the  Lord  to  send  more  laborers. 

Some  fear  lest  the  Presbytery  should  take  too  much  liberty  in  licensing  and 
ordaining  unlearned  men.  If  by  this  you  mean  you  are  afraid  the  Presbytery 
(in  some  instances)  will  dispense  with  the  dead  languages,  your  fears  are 
well  grounded.  But  if  you  are  afraid  we  will  license  and  ordain  without  a 
good  English  education,  we  hope  your  fears  are  without  foundation.1  And 
while  we  thus  candidly  declare  our  intention  to  receive  men  as  candidates, 
without  a  knowledge  of  languages,  who  are  men  of  good  talents,  and  who 
appear  to  be  evidently  called  of  God  (believing,  as  we  do,  that  there  are 
thousands  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  such  description,  who  would  make 
more  able,  respectable,  and  more  useful  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  than  many 
who  say  they  have  been  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel),  we  would  never- 
theless recommend  it  to  all  parents  who  have  sons  who  promise  fair  for  the 
ministry,  to  have  them  taught  the  Greek  language,  especially  the  Greek  Tes- 
tament. Some  of  us,  brethren,  intend  to  do  ourselves  what  we  here  recom- 
mend, and  thereby  more  fully  convince  you  of  our  sincerity. 

We  would  just  add,  that  we  have  it  in  view  as  a  Presbytery  to  continue,  or 
make  another  proposition  to  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  or  some  other  Synod  for 
a  reunion.  If  we  can  obtain  it  without  violating  our  natural  and  Scriptural 
rights,  it  will  meet  the  most  ardent  wish  of  our  hearts.  If  we  cannot,  we 
hope  to  be  enabled  to  commit  ourselves  and  cause  to  Him  who  is  able  to 
keep  us.    Brethren,  if  we  live  at  the  feet  of  the  Redeemer  and  feel  constant 

1  See  the  preamble  to  the  minute  of  our  first  Presbytery. 


FRATERNIZING  ADVISED. 


285 


dependence  on  him,  we  are  not  afraid  but  that  he  will  be  our  God  and  Direc- 
tor. And  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  We  therefore  entreat 
you,  brethren,  to  watch  and  be  sober. 

Cultivate  friendship  with  all  societies  of  Christians  who  maintain  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  whose  lives  comport  with  their  pro- 
fession. Rut  avoid  the  multitude  of  deceivers  who  have  gone  out  into  the 
world  and  strike  at  the  very  root  of  all  real  religion.  Avoid  them,  we  en- 
treat you,  as  you  would  the  open  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ. 

Gird  on  the  whole  armor  of  God.  Eight  the  good  figlit  of  faith,  live  in  peace, 
and  the  God  of  peace  shall  be  with  you.  Amen. 

Samuel  McAdow,  Moderator. 

Test,  Young  Ewing,  Clerk. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  FIRST  SYNOD. 

The  records  of  the  first  Presbytery,  as  compiled  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Lindsley  in  his  "  Sources  and  Sketches  of 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  History,"  clearly  indicate  that  a 
separate  ecclesiastical  denomination  was  not  at  first  aimed 
at.  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  meant  to  be  only  an  in- 
dependent Presbytery  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  hopes 
being  reserved  that  some  day  and  in  some  unforeseen 
manner  the  breach  would  be  healed.  But  the  day  has 
delayed  its  coming,  and  the  unforeseen  manner  has  never 
become  apparent.  Cumberland  Presbytery,  while  hoping, 
delayed  not  its  growth,  and  the  ministers  and  churches 
under  its  jurisdiction  multiplied.  November  3,  181 2,  :t 
met  at  a  church  called  Lebanon,  in  Christian  County,  Ky. 
It  was  resolved  to  form  a  Synod,  and  the  preamble  to  the 
resolution  reads  as  follows : 

Whereas,  we,  the  Cumberland  Presbytery,  have  made  every  reasonable 
effort  to  be  reunited  to  the  general  Presbyterian  Church;  and  Whereas, 
from  the  extent  of  our  bounds,  the  local  situation  of  our  members,  their 
number,  etc.,  it  is  inconvenient  to  do  business  in  but  one  Presbytery;  and 
Whereas  the  constitution  of  a  Synod  would  be  desirable,  and  we  trust  of 
good  consequences  in  various  respects,  and  particularly  as  a  tribunal  having 
appellate  jurisdiction  :  therefore,  etc. 

Previous  to  this,  in  October,  181 1,  Cumberland  Presby- 
tery appointed  a  committee  to  meet  a  delegation  from 
Muhlenburg  and  West  Tennessee  Presbyteries  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  "  to  confer  on  the  subject  of  a  reunion, 
and  other  matters  relative  to  that  harmony  that  should 

286 


THE  SYNOD  ORGANIZED. 


287 


exist  between  the  members  and  people  of  Jesus  Christ." 
But  instead  of  a  union  being  effected  between  the  two 
bodies,  a  pastoral  letter  was  addressed  to  the  churches 
warning  them  of  the  heresies  of  those  who  had  assumed 
the  Cumberland  Presbytery,  asserting  that  its  members 
had  no  authority  to  administer  ordinances,  etc.  The 
members  of  Cumberland  Presbytery  and  the  members  of 
its  churches  were  excluded  from  participation  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  when  administered  by  Presby- 
terian ministers.1  This  harsh  measure  called  forth  the 
following  on  the  part  of  Cumberland  Presbytery : 

Whereas,  our  brethren  of  Muhlenburg  and  West  Tennessee  Presbyteries, 
instead  of  manifesting  a  spirit  of  reconciliation,  have  officially  shut  the  door 
against  the  two  bodies  coming  together ; 

Resolved,  1st,  That  this  Presbytery  has,  in  substance,  complied  with  our 
declaration  in  the  circular  letter  relating  to  a  reunion.  2d.  It  is  our  opinion 
that  the  Muhlenburg  and  West  Tennessee  Presbyteries  by  their  late  acts  have 
for  the  present  cut  off  all  prospect  of  a  reunion  between  the  two  churches. 
3d.  That  we  have  always  been,  and  expect  to  continue  to  be,  willing  and 
ready  to  have  union  on  proper  principles  with  the  general  Presbyterian 
Church. 

But  hope  was  deferred.  That  it  might  work  the  more 
efficiently  while  it  waited,  the  Cumberland  Presbytery 
divided  itself  into  three,  and  in  October,  18 13,  at  the 
Beech  Church  in  Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  the  first  Synod 
was  organized.  The  name  "  Cumberland  "  Presbytery  was 
changed  to  "  Nashville,"  the  other  two  Presbyteries  being 
the  Elk  and  the  Logan.  The  name  "  Cumberland  "  was 
given  to  the  Synod.  The  bounds  of  this  Synod  included 
a  large  part  of  Middle  Tennessee,  extending  indefinitely 
northward  through  Kentucky.  The  first  Presbytery  was 
organized  with  three  ordained  ministers ;  the  first  Synod, 
three  years  thereafter,  with  sixteen. 

The  most  important  work  of  the  Synod  at  its  first 


l  Smith's  "  History. 


288 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.     [Chap.  v. 


meeting  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  prepare 
a  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechism,  and  Discipline,  in  con- 
formity to  the  avowed  principles  of  the  body.  It  con- 
sisted of  Rev.  Messrs.  William  McGee,  Finis  Ewing,  Robert 
Donnell,  and  Thomas  Calhoun.  The  committee  simply 
modified  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechism,  ex- 
punging what  the  members  and  those  whom  they  repre- 
sented believed  to  be  unscriptural,  and  supplying,  under 
the  topics  treated,  that  which  they  thought  in  accordance 
with  the  Word  of  God.  The  whole  was  presented  to  the 
Synod  of  1 8 1 6,  which  approved  it  and  adopted  it  as  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Discipline  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

The  Cumberland  Synod  performed  all  the  functions  of 
a  General  Synod  from  the  date  of  its  organization  in  1813 
to  its  final  adjournment  in  1828.  At  this  time  there  were 
eighteen  presbyteries,  as  follows :  Nashville,  Elk,  and 
Logan,  181 3;  McGee,  in  Missouri  and  Illinois,  18 19; 
Anderson,  in  Kentucky,  1821  ;  Lebanon,  in  Tennessee, 
1 821;  Tennessee,  including  the  southern  portion  of  the 
State,  1 82 1  ;  Illinois,  1822;  Tombigbee,  in  Alabama  and 
Mississippi,  1823;  Arkansas,  1823;  Hopewell,  in  Western 
Tennessee,  1824;  Alabama,  1824;  Indiana,  1825;  Bar- 
nett,  in  Missouri,  1827;  Knoxville,  in  Tennessee,  1827; 
St.  Louis,  in  Missouri,  1828;  Princeton,  in  Kentucky, 
1828;  Sangamon,  in  Illinois,  1828. 

The  historians  who  have  space  to  enter  into  details  tell 
us  that  the  world  has  never  known  a  period  of  greater 
activity  and  spirituality  than  characterized  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  from  181 3  to  1829.  Many  of  the 
accounts  of  the  labors  and  triumphs  of  the  ministry  in 
those  days  read  like  "  miracles  of  missions."  The  only 
mode  of  travel,  save  in  so  far  as  they  might  go  by  boat 
or  canoe,  was  horseback  or  afoot,  and  it  was  no  uncommon 


PERILS  OF  TRAVEL. 


289 


thing  for  the  missionaries  to  travel  hundreds  of  miles  in 
order  that  they  might  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  their 
presbyteries — and  it  was  done  in  perils  of  wild  beasts, 
and  wild  waters,  and  often  of  wild  men.  They  were  not 
learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  but  they  knew 
very  well  the  essentials  of  the  gospel ;  they  were  mighty 
in  the  Scriptures,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  a 
consuming  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  sinners.  There  are  no 
statistics  to  show  the  number  either  of  ministers  or  mem- 
bers in  the  church  at  that  time.  We  know  the  number 
of  presbyteries  and  who  were  their  first  members,  but 
what  names  were  added  to  their  rolls  during  these  sixteen 
years  of  the  first  Synod  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  But 
it  is  known  that  thousands  were  converted  every  year,  a 
large  number  of  whom,  for  reasons  of  personal  conven- 
ience, joined  other  churches. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


A  LARGER  GROWTH. 

On  Monday,  October  27,  1828,  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  the 
first  Synod,  which,  from  the  date  of  its  organization,  had 
also  been  a  General  Synod,  adjourned  sine  die.  It  had  re- 
solved to  divide  itself  into  four  synods  preparatory  to  the 
organization  of  a  General  Assembly.  The  new  synods 
were  named :  Missouri,  including  six  presbyteries ;  Frank- 
lin, including  four  presbyteries  ;  Green  River,  including  four 
presbyteries :  and  Columbia,  also  including  four  presby- 
teries. The  General  Assembly  was  to  hold  its  first  meet- 
ing in  Princeton,  Ky.,  the  third  Tuesday  in  May,  1829. 
Such  changes  in  the  Form  of  Government  as  the  organi- 
zation of  a  General  Assembly  necessitated  were  made  by 
the  General  Synod,  and,  without  any  reference  to  the  pres- 
byteries, were  accepted  by  common  consent,  and  became 
part  of  the  laws  of  the  church.1 

Pursuant  to  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Synod  the 
first  General  Assembly  convened  at  Princeton,  Ky.,  in 
May,  1829.  Sixteen  of  the  eighteen  presbyteries  were 
represented — a  large  proportion,  considering  the  difficul- 
ties of  travel  and  the  already  widely  extended  area  of  the 
church.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Calhoun  was  the  moderator, 
and  Rev.  Richard  Beard,  subsequently  and  for  many  years 
professor  of  systematic  theology  in  Cumberland  University, 
was  the  clerk.    At  this  Assembly  Rev.  John  W.  Ogden 

1  McDonnold's  "  History." 
290 


GROWTH  OF  THE  WORK. 


291 


and  Rev.  M.  H.  Bone  were  appointed  missionaries  to 
travel  through  the  eastern  section  of  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  solicit  donations  for 
a  college  which,  three  years  before,  had  been  opened  at 
Princeton,  Ky.  These  missionaries  seem  to  have  empha- 
sized their  function  as  evangelists  rather  than  as  soliciting 
agents.  They  spent  the  summer  and  autumn  in  the  State 
of  Ohio  and  in  western  Pennsylvania,  preaching  with 
such  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  that  through 
their  instrumentality  a  great  many  sinners  were  converted. 
Their  work  paved  the  way  for  extensive  usefulness  on 
the  part  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ohio, 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  the  State  of  New  York.  Two 
years  after  this,  in  response  to  a  petition  from  certain 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Pennsylvania,  five 
missionaries  were  sent  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
western  part  of  that  State.  A  revival  hardly  less  remark- 
able than  that  of  1800  sprang  up  under  their  ministry,  and 
many  churches  were  organized.  A  witness  of  their  min- 
istry,, and  member  of  the  Presbyterian  congregation  that 
had  applied  to  the  General  Assembly  for  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  missionaries,  thus  wrote  :  "  God  has  often  re- 
vived his  work  among  us  here,  but  we  have  never  before 
witnessed  anything  to  compare  with  the  blessed  work 
which  is  now  in  progress  among  us  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  these  missionaries  from  the  West."  The 
following  year  (1832)  Pennsylvania  Presbytery  was  or- 
ganized, and  Pennsylvania  Synod  in  1838.  This  Synod  is 
now  composed  of  four  presbyteries  and  many  flourishing 
churches,  and  since  1849  nas  sustained  a  college  of  great 
usefulness  at  Waynesburg,  Pa. 

In  1828  Cumberland  Presbyterianism  was  introduced 
into  Texas  by  Rev.  Sumner  Bacon,  a  volunteer  and  self- 
supporting  missionary.    In  1837  Texas  Presbytery  was 


292 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  Vh 


formed.  There  are  now  in  that  State  27  presbyteries  and 
551  reported  churches. 

Save  during  the  years  of  the  Civil  War,  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  has  grown  rapidly  and  without 
interruption,  until  it  now  has  churches  in  half  the  States 
of  the  Union.  It  has  a  theological  seminary  in  connection 
with  Cumberland  University  at  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  colleges 
in  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Texas,  besides 
high-schools  innumerable  under  its  influence.  It  has 
always  been  the  friend  and  earnest  advocate  of  education, 
but,  yielding  to  the  pressing  urgency  of  its  fields  white 
unto  harvest,  has  never  made  the  acquisition  of  the  ancient 
languages  a  condition  of  ordination  on  the  part  of  its  min- 
istry— and  thus,  particularly  in  the  earlier  days,  the  bread 
of  life  was  broken  unto  thousands  who  might  otherwise 
have  starved.  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  has 
either  not  had,  or  has  lost,  opportunities  to  develop  and 
advertise  its  theology,  as  other  churches  have  been  wont 
to  do,  but  within  the  scope  of  its  own  ministry  it  has  not 
failed  to  emphasize  it.  In  its  attitude  toward  other  de- 
nominations it  has  never  been  a  belligerent  church — not 
so  was  it  even  in  the  more  polemical  days  of  half  or  three 
quarters  of  a  century  ago.  It  has  gone  about  doing  good, 
with  malice  toward  none  and  with  charity  toward  all,  its 
favorite  theme  ever  being  the  simple  and  old,  old  story  of 
God's  world-wide  and  redeeming  love.  But  it  did  not 
recognize  God  as  arbitrary  or  lawless ;  and  it  was  anti- 
nomian  neither  in  practice  nor  tendency.  It  palliated  no 
sin,  and  offered  no  "  larger  hope,"  for  this  world  or  the 
next,  than  repentance  toward  God  and  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  during  this  present  life.  It  was  one  of  the 
few  churches,  perhaps  the  only  one,  occupying  large  areas 
in  the  North  and  South,  whose  organic  union  could  with- 
stand the  sundering  influence  of  questions  culminating  in 


SECRET  OF  SUCCESS. 


293 


or  growing  out  of  the  Civil  War.  It  is  a  practical  illustra- 
tion of  how  beautiful  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity,  even  if  it  be  necessary  to  that  end  to  hold  in 
abeyance  some  matters  of  individual  opinion  and  some 
matters  which  belong  rather  to  civil  legislatures.  But  no 
church  has  ever  excelled  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  in 
its  advocacy  of  the  highest  and  purest  type  of  Christian 
living.  It  has  mission  stations  in  Japan  and  Mexico,  and 
from  an  early  day  has  done  much  toward  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  American  Indian.  Its  evangelistic  energy  has 
always  exceeded  its  pastoral  resources,  and  hence  many 
thousands  of  those  converted  under  the  influence  of  its 
ministry  have  had  to  resort  to  other  churches  for  Christian 
nurture  and  admonition.  'Hence  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church  at  the  present  time  (1893)  numbers  only 
some  two  hundred  thousand  communicants,  whereas  the 
number  to  which  its  evangelical  energy  really  entitles  it 
should  be  at  least  twice  so  many. 

"Two  principal  causes,"  says  the  late  Dr.  Richard 
Beard,  "  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  early  ministry 
of  this  church,  '  camp-meetings '  and  what  we  called  in 
early  days  '  circuit  preaching.'  Our  fathers  brought  both 
these  institutions  with  them  from  the  mother  church. 
They  were  not,  it  is  true,  indigenous  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  but  they  had  grown  up  as  necessities 
out  of  the  revival.  These  modes  of  operation  have  now, 
except  in  our  frontier  settlements,  become  obsolete  with 
us.  They  are  adapted  to  newly  and  thinly  inhabited  set- 
tlements, but  otherwise  they  do  not  harmonize  with  our 
mode  of  administration.  .  .  .  Another  cause  of  the  great 
success  of  our  early  men  is  found  in  the  character  of  the 
labors  of  the  men  themselves.  The  great  commission  is 
to  preach.  These  men  preached,  allowing  the  term  its 
most  significant  sense.    Their  homely  but  strong  elocu- 


294  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  vi. 


tion  made  its  mark  everywhere.  Again,  something  was 
perhaps  attributable  to  the  condition  of  the  country  itself. 
It  was  new,  and  greatly  excited  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
and  the  earnest  manner  in  which  the  truth  was  presented 
was  well  adapted  to  its  habits  of  thought  and  feeling.  I 
add  further,  the  ministry  shared  in  an  unusual  degree  the 
spiritual  cooperation  of  the  people.  The  first  generation 
of  Cumberland  Presbyterians  were  the  most  intensely 
spiritual  people  that  I  have  ever  known.  It  is  charged,  I 
know,  that  old  men  look  back  and  magnify  the  past,  while 
young  men  look  forward ;  but  I  cannot  be  mistaken  on 
this  subject.  These  people  lived  nearer  heaven  than  ordi- 
nary Christians  do  now.  A  man  would  have  been  an  ice- 
berg who  could  not  have  participated  in  some  degree  in 
the  inspiration  of  their  feelings  and  their  prayers.  If 
they  did  not  give  much  money,  they  gave  their  hearts  to 
the  Word  and  to  the  work.  The  people  strengthened  the 
preacher,  and  the  preacher  strengthened  the  people." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MISSIONS. 

EVEN  so  early  as  1819  the  church  took  its  first  step  in 
the  direction  of  formal  missionary  work.  In  different  parts 
of  the  Synod  a  common  spirit  seems  to  have  moved  the 
hearts  of  many  members  of  the  new  church  in  behalf  of 
the  Indians.  A  number  of  communications  came  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Synod  of  that  year  on  the  subject  of  doing 
something  for  the  improvement  of  these  people.  The 
result  was  the  establishment  of  a  Christian  mission  school 
within  what  is  now  the  State  of  Mississippi.  It  was  placed 
under  the  supervision  of  Rev.  Robert  Bell.  The  school 
was  opened  in  1820,  and  continued  to  about  1830.  The 
removal  of  the  Indians  to  the  Indian  Territory  made  its 
discontinuance  necessary,  or  rather  its  continuance  un- 
necessary and  useless.  Seed  was  sown,  however,  which 
is  bearing  fruit  now.  Robert  Bell  deserves  a  monument 
at  the  side  of  those  of  David  Brainerd,  John  Elliot,  and 
others  who  have  sought  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the 
poor  Indians,  rather  than  the  violent  possession  of  their 
hunting-grounds. 

Just  seventy-three  years  ago,  the  honored  fathers  of 
this  church  inaugurated  a  foreign  mission  which  devel- 
oped the  same  spirit  of  self-denial  and  heroism  which  the 
missionary  work  is  now  developing. 

For  many  years  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
cooperated  with  the  American  Board.  The  first  foreign 
missionary  sent  out  by  the  church,  independently,  was  a 

295 


296 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  vii. 


consecrated  young  negro,  who  had  been  manumitted  by 
his  master  and  was  sent  to  Siberia  in  1852.  In  i860 
Rev.  J.  C.  Armstrong  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Turkey. 
Both  missions  failed,  owing  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War,  which  greatly  crippled  the  church.  In  1872  Rev. 
M.  L.  Gordon  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Japan,  and  our 
force  there  has  since  increased  to  four  men  and  twelve 
women,  the  latter  being  sent  out  by  the  Women's  Board. 
Rev.  Dr.  Gordon  is  now  working  under  the  American 
Board.  In  1886  the  mission  work  in  Mexico  was  begun, 
and  there  are  now  five  missionaries  on  the  field.  There  is 
an  increasing  missionary  spirit  in  the  church  among  the 
young  people,  and  it  hopes  soon  to  enter  upon  a  larger 
and  wider  field  of  usefulness.  The  missionary  work  of 
the  church  is  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
organized  in  1845,  which  also  does  the  work  of  a  Board 
of  Church  Erection.  It  is  now  located  at  St.  Louis.  The 
Women's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  organized  in 
1880,  and  is  located  at  Evansville,  Ind.  It  may  be  worthy 
of  mention  that  the  first  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Missions  ever  organized  (18 18)  was  a  "  Women's  Board." 
It  seems  to  have  been  local  in  character. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


EDUCATION. 

In  1825  the  Synod  entered  upon  the  work  of  education. 
A  college  was  established  at  Princeton,  Ky.,  known  as 
Cumberland  College.  Franceway  R.  Cossitt,  who  came  to 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  from  the  Episcopa- 
lians and  had  been  educated  in  one  of  the  best  colleges 
of  New  England,  was  the  first  president.  That  old  insti- 
tution produced  much  fruit.  In  1842  it  was  removed  to 
Lebanon,  Tenn.,  and  chartered  as  "  Cumberland  Univer- 
sity." It  has,  as  a  part  of  its  corporation,  a  law  school, 
which  has  long  since  acquired  great  reputation  throughout 
the  South  and  Southwest,  and  a  theological  seminary, 
founded  in  1853.  The  Rev.  Richard  Beard,  D.D.,  was 
for  some  time  the  only  professor.  Hundreds  of  young 
men  preparing  for  the  ministry  received  their  theological 
education  in  part  or  entirely  from  him.  This  seminary 
now  has  four  full  professors,  and  two  others  who  deliver 
shorter  courses  of  lectures.  The  number  of  students  has 
been  steadily  increasing  since  the  reorganization  in  1877, 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  seminary  has  a 
bright  future.  Waynesburg  College,  at  Waynesburg,  Pa., 
was  established  in  1850,  Madison  College,  its  predecessor 
in  that  part  of  the  church,  having  been  discontinued. 
Other  institutions  are  :  Lincoln  University,  at  Lincoln,  111., 
founded  in  1864;  Trinity  University,  at  Tehuacana,  Tex., 
established  in  1869;  Missouri  Valley  College,  at  Marshall, 

297 


298         THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  viii. 

Mo. ;  Bethel  College,  at  McKenzie,  Tenn.  ;  and  various 
Presbyterial  Academies,  and  other  schools  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  church.  A  Board  of  Education  was  organ- 
ized at  Nashville  in  1855.  In  recent  years  it  has  done  an 
increasingly  useful  work.  It  has  not  only  aided  a  great 
many  young  men  to  obtain  an  education,  but  through  its 
agent,  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Grider,  D.D.,  has  added  largely  to  the 
endowment  fund  of  the  theological  seminary  at  Lebanon. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


PUBLICATION. 

THE  first  attempt  to  establish  a  church  paper  was  made 
in  1830,  the  "  Religious  and  Literary  Intelligencer"  being 
that  year  started  at  Princeton,  Ky.  In  1832  it  was  re- 
moved to  Nashville,  and  became  the  "  Revivalist."  The 
next  year  it  became  the  "  Cumberland  Presbyterian,"  under 
which  title  it  is  still  published. 

A  great  many  other  weeklies  and  other  periodicals  ap- 
peared from  time  to  time  in  the  interests  of  the  church. 
In  1845,  at  Uniontown,  Pa.,  the  Rev.  Milton  Bird  issued 
the  first  number  of  the  "  Theological  Medium,"  the  more 
recent  name  of  which  is  the  "  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Review,"  and  the  publication  of  which  has  been  kept  up 
quite  regularly  from  the  date  of  its  first  number  until  re- 
cently. The  doctrines,  polity,  and  policy  of  the  church 
have  been  ably  discussed  from  time  to  time  in  its  pages, 
as  also  many  questions  of  general  interest.  The  church 
also  issues,  through  its  Board  of  Publication,  the  usual 
Sabbath-school  literature.  This  Board  was  organized  in 
1867  and  located  at  Nashville.  Prior  to  this  time  the 
publishing  work  had  been  done  by  "  committees,"  in 
Pittsburg  and  Louisville. 


299 


CHAPTER  X. 


IN  RELATION  TO  THE  NEGRO. 

A  BRIEF  word  may  be  added  in  regard  to  the  rela- 
tion of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  to  the  negro. 
Before  the  Civil  War  there  were  some  twenty  thousand 
Cumberland  Presbyterians.  They  belonged  to  the  same 
congregations  of  which  white  people  were  members,  and 
sat  under  the  ministry  of  the  same  pastors,  though  they 
had  preachers  of  their  own  race  and  often  held  separate 
meetings.  "  This  order  of  things  broke  down  during  the 
war,  and  in  1869  the  colored  people  asked  and  received 
the  consent  of  the  General  Assembly  to  the  organization 
of  a  separate  African  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church."1 
This  church  has  its  own  General  Assembly,  20  presby- 
teries, and  over  15,000  communicants. 

1  Dr.  J.  M.  Howard,  editor  "Cumberland  Presbyterian,"  Nashville. 


300 

• 


CHAPTER  XL 


PROGRESS. 

In  1810  there  were  three  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
ministers.  In  i860  there  were  97  presbyteries,  not  less 
than  15  chartered  colleges,  and  a  total  membership  of 
100,000.  To-day,  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  its  colored 
ministers  and  members,  it  has  126  presbyteries,  some  1700 
ministers,  540  licentiates  and  candidates,  and  about  200,- 
000  members.  These  numbers  are  not  so  large,  perhaps, 
as  they  might  have  been,  but  "  some  comfort  in  our 
deficiencies  and  hope  for  our  future  growth,"  says  Dr. 
McDonnold,  "  may  be  derived  from  comparisons."  The 
Presbyterian  Church  in  America  in  18 19  was  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  old — some  forty  years  older 
than  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  is  now.  But  at  that 
date  it  had  fifty-three  presbyteries  in  all,  no  Board  of 
Publication,  and  no  Board  of  Missions.  This  slow  prog- 
ress was  doubtless  caused  in  part  by  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  adverse  influences  in  colonial  times.  But  there 
were  mighty  difficulties  and  hindrances  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  scarcely  less  em- 
barrassing— and  they  have  not  been  restricted  to  the  early 
days.  It  is  well  that  the  lifetime  of  ecclesiastical  genera- 
tions also  is  brief,  for  the  young  begin  the  struggle  afresh, 
inheriting  the  hopes  of  those  who  have  gone  before  them, 
and  not  their  despairs.  There  are  many  reasons  to-day  for 
believing  that  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  now 

301 


302 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  XI. 


entering  upon  a  new  era  of  activity  and  prosperity,  and 
that  it  has  before  it  an  enlarging  field  and  a  growing  mis- 
sion of  usefulness.  The  improved  condition  of  its  schools 
of  general  learning,  and  of  its  one  theological  seminary,  is 
a  sign  of  a  better  future,  as  is  also  the  increasing  number 
of  regular  pastors.  "  And,"  said  a  very  old  minister,  not 
very  long  ago,  "  increasing  attention  is  paid  to  experi- 
mental and  spiritual  religion."  At  any  rate,  we  inherit 
his  hope,  and  "press  on." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


DOCTRINES. 

THE  first  published  statement  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian doctrines  was  the  brief  compend  unanimously 
approved  and  issued  by  the  Cumberland  Synod  at  the 
time  of  its  organization,  October,  1813.  It  was  under- 
stood that,  in  the  main,  the  Westminster  Confession  was 
accepted,  the  following  points  of  dissent  being  stated : 
first,  that  there  are  no  eternal  reprobates ;  second,  that 
Christ  died  not  for  a  part  only,  but  for  all  mankind ;  third, 
that  all  infants  dying  in  infancy  are  saved  through  Christ 
and  the  sanctification  of  the  Spirit ;  fourth,  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  operates  on  the  world,  or,  in  other  words,  coex- 
tensively  with  the  atonement  of  Christ,  in  such  manner  as 
to  leave  all  men  inexcusable. 

As  to  the  doctrines  of  predestination  and  election,  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians  have  always  thought  that  they  are 
too  mysterious  to  have  any  rightful  place  in  a  Confes- 
sion of  Faith ;  nor  are  they  pleased  with  the  application 
which  rigid  Calvinists  make  of  these  doctrines,  or  which 
Arminians  make  of  their  rejection.  They  do  not  deem  it 
necessary  to  approve  the  doctrine  of  final  apostasy  in  order 
to  avoid  these  other  doctrines ;  nor  do  they  deem  it  neces- 
sary to  approve  these  other  doctrines  as  interpreted  by 
the  more  rigid  Calvinists  in  order  that  they  may  hold  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  final  preservation  of  believers.  To 
them  there  seems  to  be  a  better  way.  To  them  the  tem- 
poral promise  of  God  is  just  as  valid  as  his  eternal  decree. 
But  they  accept  also,  of  course,  every  word  of  Romans 

303 


304  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chai>.  XII. 


viii.  29,  30,  supposing,  however,  that  the  Apostle  was 
writing  both  to  believers  and  concerning  believers  in 
Christ.  These  were  "  predestinated  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  his  Son."  Cumberland  Presbyterians  are 
confident  that  these  doctrines  should  not  be  so  interpreted 
as  to  make  anything  the  creature  has  done,  or  can  do,  at 
all  meritorious  in  his  salvation,  or  to  take  the  least  degree 
of  the  honor  of  our  justification  and  perseverance  from 
God's  unmerited  grace  and  Christ's  pure  righteousness. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  are  equally  confident  that  these 
doctrines  should  not  be  so  construed  as  to  make  God  the 
author  of  sin,  directly  or  indirectly,  either  Adam's  sin  or 
any  subsequent  sin  of  his  fallen  race  ;  or  to  contradict  the 
express  and  repeated  declarations  of  God's  Word  on  the 
extent  of  the  atonement  and  operations  of  the  Spirit ;  or 
to  contradict  the  sincerity  of  God's  expostulations  with 
sinners,  and  make  his  oath  to  have  no  meaning,  when  he 
swears  he  has  no  pleasure  in  their  death ;  or  to  resolve  the 
whole  character  of  the  Deity  into  his  sovereignty,  without 
a  due  regard  to  all  other  of  his  adorable  attributes.1 

The  first  Synod,  at  its  first  meeting,  unanimously  ap- 
proved and  published  the  following  doctrinal  specifications  : 

1.  That  Adam  was  made  upright,  pure,  and  free;  that  he  was  necessarily 
under  the  moral  law,  which  binds  all  intelligences  ;  and  having  transgressed 
it,  he  was  consequently,  with  all  his  posterity,  exposed  to  eternal  punishment 
and  misery. 

2.  That  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  represented  just  as  many  as  the  first, 
consequently  made  an  atonement  for  all,  "  which  will  be  testified  in  due  time." 
But  that  the  benefit  of  that  atonement  will  be  received  only  by  the  believer. 

3.  That  all  Adam's  family  are  totally  depraved ;  conceived  in  sin ;  going 
astray  from  the  womb,  and  all  "  children  of  wrath,"  therefore  must  "  be  born 
again,"  justified  and  sanctified,  or  they  never  can  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

4.  That  justification  is  by  faith  alone  as  the  instrument ;  by  the  merits  of 
Christ's  active  and  passive  obedience  as  the  meritorious  cause ;  and  by  the 
operations  of  God's  Spirit  as  the  efficacious  or  active  cause. 

1  Smith's  "  History." 


DEPARTURES  FROM  WESTMINSTER  CONFESSION.  305 


5.  That  as  the  sinner  is  justified  on  the  account  of  Christ's  righteousness 
being  imputed  or  accounted  to  him,  on  the  same  account  he  will  be  enabled 
to  go  on  from  one  degree  of  grace  to  another,  in  a  progressive  life  of  sancti- 
fication,  until  he  is  fit  to  be  gathered  to  the  garner  of  God,  who  will  certainly 
take  to  glory  every  man  who  is  really  justified ;  that  is,  he,  Christ,  has  be- 
come wisdom  (light  to  convince),  righteousness  (to  justify),  sanctification  (to 
cleanse),  and  redemption  (to  glorify)  to  every  truly  regenerated  soul. 

6.  In  this  item  is  stated  the  orthodox  or  traditional  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

The  Synod,  at  the  same  meeting  at  which  this  brief 
platform  of  doctrine  was  adopted,  appointed  a  committee 
to  prepare  a  fuller  creed.  This  committee  simply  read 
over  the  Westminster  Confession  item  by  item,  changing 
or  expunging  such  expressions  as  did  not  suit  them.  This 
process  was  repeated ;  and  while  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee were  thus  at  work,  by  order  of  the  Synod  all  the 
churches  were  observing  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for 
the  divine  guidance  to  be  given  to  them. 

Oh  for  those  trustful  days !  Is  it  always  true  that  the 
period  of  a  church's  earliest  love  is  also  the  period  of  its 
sweetest  repose  in  Christ?  A  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
for  the  divine  guidance!  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  has  always  been  religious.  It  has  always  believed, 
with  St.  Bernard,  that  God  "  is  more  easily  and  worthily 
sought  and  found  by  prayer  than  by  disputation."  But  its 
mysticism  has  never  been  either  unchurchly  or  heretical. 

The  principal  departures,  on  the  part  of  the  commit- 
tee, from  the  Westminster  Confession  were  in  chapters  iii. 
and  x.  relative  to  "eternal  decrees"  and  "effectual  calling." 
The  Presbyterian  polity  and  the  evangelical  Presbyterian 
doctrines  were  retained.  This  revised  Confession  of  Faith 
was  adopted  October  14,  18 14,  and  continued  to  be  the 
creed  of  the  church  until  1883,  at  which  time  a  revision 
of  it  was  adopted.  The  revision  of  1883  retains  the  same 
essential  doctrines  set  forth  in  that  of  18 14,  though  in  a 
somewhat  briefer  form  and  under  a  slightly  modified  ar- 


306  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS,    [Chap,  xil 


rangement.  The  Catechism  was  also  changed  in  so  far  as 
to  make  it  conform  to  the  Confession. 

The  Confession  is  by  no  means  blind  to  the  eternal 
sovereignty  of  God,  nor  to  the  stern  fact  of  eternal  retri- 
bution, but  it  delights  in  beholding  God  as  exercising  his 
sovereignty  in  love,  and  in  contemplating  the  various 
aspects  of  the  truth  that  he  so  loved  the  fallen  and  un- 
worthy world  as  to  give  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life — and  this  other  truth,  that  "  the  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit  withal." 

But  times  change,  and  men  and  churches  change  with 
them.  It  is  no  secret  that  for  years  Presbyterian  pulpits 
have  either  been  drifting  or  consciously  moving  toward 
Cumberland  Presbyterianism.  Thousands  of  them  are 
already  in  the  same  harbor.  Statements  that  were  once 
bitterly  denounced,  and  for  the  making  of  which  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians  were  excluded  by  the  Presbyterian 
leaders  from  sitting  at  the  same  Lord's  table,  are  now  on 
everybody's  tongue.  Monuments  in  memory  of  the  slain 
prophets  are  being  erected  by  those  whose  fathers  slew 
them.  Cumberland  Presbyterians  have  never  denied  that 
God  is  just.  That  the  just  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do 
right,  is  indeed  one  of  their  cardinal  principles.  But  both 
in  their  Confession  and  in  their  pulpits  they  bring  into  bold 
relief  that  other  aspect  of  the  same  truth  wherein  it  is  said 
that  "  God  is  love."  And  in  reply  to  the  question,  How 
is  it,  in  view  of  manifold  teachings  of  his  Word  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  that  idea  of  eternal  right  with  which  he 
himself  has  endowed  us,  how  is  it  that  God  could  create 
some  men  and  angels  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  damn 
them  for  his  own  good  pleasure?  it  has  never  been  re- 
garded as  sufficient  to  say,  "  It  is  a  part  of  the  plan."  No 
church  can  stand  more  reverently  in  the  presence  of  holy 


DOCTRINE  OF  ATONEMENT. 


307 


and  inscrutable  mysteries  than  can  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian ;  but  it  creates  no  mysteries,  and  for  the  most 
part  it  stands  silently,  the  only  mystery  which  it  parades, 
either  in  its  books  or  in  its  pulpit,  being  the  mystery  of 
God's  redeeming  wisdom  and  love.  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  pretention,  or  reprobation,  of  adults  and  of 
infants  is  one  that  can  exist  only  in  words ;  for  if  one  was 
eternally  reprobated,  he  was  of  course  eternally  reprobated 
in  infancy  and  all  the  other  stages  of  his  life,  regardless 
of  the  time  when  he  should  die.  Shall  we  think  of  God 
reprobating,  or  as  even  negatively  passing  over,  any  hu- 
man being  simply  on  condition  that  that  human  being 
did  not  die  in  infancy  ?  That  is  what  it  amounts  to.  But 
the  Presbyterian  pulpit  and  the  Presbyterian  theological 
schools  and  press  now  abound  in  vigorous  rejection  of 
the  severe  elements  of  Calvinism  which  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  disowned  long  ago. 

Concerning  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  view  of  the 
atonement  a  further  word  may  also  be  permitted.  With 
this  church  it  is  an  unlimited  "  provision."  The  phrases 
"  unlimited  in  sufficiency  "  and  "  limited  in  efficiency  "  can 
be  employed  just  as  consistently  by  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians as  by  the  most  rigid  Calvinists,  but  the  former  do 
not  interpret  them  as  do  the  latter.  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians are  not  Universalists.  They  know  only  too  well — 
or  at  least  they  have  only  too  good  reasons  to  apprehend 
— that  all  men  will  not  be  saved.  But  the  "  limited  effi- 
ciency "  is  not  due  to  an  eternal  decree ;  and  the  unlimited 
sufficiency  on  the  divine  side  is  only  an  unlimited  possibil- 
ity on  the  human.  In  dying  for  the  race  Christ  died  for 
every  member  of  the  race  in  the  same  sense,  in  the  first 
place.  In  dying  for  all  he  gave  to  each  a  possibility  of 
•  being  saved.  He  died  in  behalf  of  the  race;  he  died  in 
the  place  of  the  race — the  potential  substitute  of  all,  the 


308  THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIANS.    [Chap.  XIL 


actual  substitute,  so  far  as  accountable  adults  are  concerned, 
of  the  believing  individual  only,  him  who  identifies  himself 
with  Christ  as  Christ  identified  himself  with  him  ;  and  thus, 
going  with  Christ  into  death,  he  also  returns  with  him  to 
newness  of  life.  Cumberland  Presbyterianism,  of  course, 
rejects  that  interpretation  of  "substitution"  which  the  more 
rigid  Calvinistic  view  of  election  and  reprobation  requires 
to  be  placed  upon  it. 

No  penalty  is  in  any  case  suffered  twice ;  and  Christ's 
atoning  death  is  in  no  degree  rendered  nugatory  by  the 
fact  that  all  men  are  not  saved.  The  atoning  death  which 
is  void  of  effect  in  the  case  of  him  who  is  never  saved,  is 
the  same  atoning  death  which  is  efficacious  in  the  case  of 
him  who  is  saved — and  the  reason  has  just  been  stated. 
It  required  just  as  much  divine  effort,  reverently  speak- 
ing, to  save  a  thousand  as  to  save  many  myriads,  and  no 
more  to  save  the  latter  number  than  the  former.  In  either 
case  it  was  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  in  either  case 
his  death  shall  not  be  without  avail ;  he  shall  see  of  the 
travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied. 

But  however  differently  individual  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian writers  may  interpret  the  facts,  the  church  as  a 
whole  has  found  it  possible,  so  it  thinks,  to  adjust  its 
theory  of  the  atonement  to  its  theory  of  the  decrees,  and 
yet  avoid  Universalism  on  the  one  hand  and  Pelagianism 
on  the  other;  and  the  adjustment  has  been  found  to  work- 
well  in  the  actual  experience  of  the  church.  So  also  is 
the  Presbyterian  Church  doing,  quietly  or  in  controversy, 
as  it  moves  gradually  away  from  the  old  severe  construc- 
tions placed  upon  the  doctrines  of  reprobation  and  election. 

And  as  the  times  have  been  changing,  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  has  gone  on  in  her  quiet  and  yet  fer- 
vent and  diligent  way,  conserving  the  truth  as  she  sees  it, 
seeking  him  whom  her  soul  loves,  gleaning  such  sheaves 


DOCTRINES. 


309 


as  she  might  in  the  Master's  fields.  She  hath  done  what 
she  could  to  make  the  world  better  and  happier.  She 
has  not  screamed  in  the  street.  She  has  broken  none  of 
her  Lord's  bruised  reeds,  nor  quenched  his  smoking  flax. 
And  while  in  doing  all  this  she  has  seen  hard  times,  she 
has  not  been  utterly  discouraged. 

Perhaps  in  some  sweet  irenical  day  the  mother  church 
and  the  daughter  shall  embrace  each  other  again,  and 
they  which  have  been  twain  so  long  shall  live  no  more 
asunder. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 


THOMAS  C.  JOHNSON,  D.D., 

Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Polity,  in  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
Hampden  Sidney,  Va. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


The  following  are  the  chief  sources  and  subsequent  historical  works  con- 
sulted, and  relied  upon  for  the  facts  set  forth  in  the  following  pages : 

General  Sources. 

Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States.     Richmond,  1861  sqq. 

The  Distinctive  Principles  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States, 
commonly  called  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  as  set  forth  in  the 
Formal  Declarations,  and  illustrated  by  extracts  from  the  proceedings  of 
the  General  Assembly  from  1861  to  1870,  etc.  Richmond,  Committee  of 
Publication,  1870. 

The  files  of  the  reports  of  the  several  executive  committees  of  the  church, 
viz. :  those  of  Foreign  Missions,  Home  Missions,  Education,  Publica- 
tion, Colored  Evangelization. 

The  Book  of  Church  Order  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States, 
as  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1876.  Richmond,  Presbyterian 
Committee  of  Publication,  1001  Main  Street. 

Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  O.  S.  1861-93. 

Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  N.  S.  1855-69. 

Concise  Records  of  the  most  important  proceedings,  papers,  speeches,  etc.,  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  at  its  session  held  in  St.  Louis,  A.  D.  1866.  Containing  also 
in  full  the  Declaration  and  Testimony.  St.  Louis,  published  at  the 
office  of  the  Missouri  Presbyterian,  1866. 

Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky.    The  manuscript  copy  from  1866-81. 

Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Missouri,  O.  S.,  1869.  St.  Louis,  published  at  the 
office  of  the  Missouri  Presbyterian,  1869. 

Histories  and  Biographies  from  the  Sources  and  Collected 

Works. 

Alexander,  Rev.  W.  A.,  A  Digest  of  the  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  from  its  Organization  to 
the  Assembly  of 1887,  Inclusive,  with  Certain  Historical  and  Explanatory 
Notes.    Richmond,  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Publication,  1888. 

Baird,  Samuel  J.,  D.D.,  A  Collection  of  the  Acts,  Deliverances,  and  Testi- 
monies of  the  Supreme  Judiciary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  from  its 
Origin  in  America  to  the  Present  Time.  Philadelphia,  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Publication,  821  Chestnut  Street,  1855. 

313 


314 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Bancroft,  George,  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  from  the  Dis- 
covery of  the  Continent.  The  author's  latest  revision.  Six  vols.  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1887. 

Briggs,  Charles  Augustus,  D.D.,  American  Presbylerianism.  Its  origin 
and  early  history,  together  with  an  appendix  of  letters  and  documents, 
many  of  which  have  recently  been  discovered.  With  maps.  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1885. 

Dabney,  Robert  L.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Discussions.  Edited  by  C.  R. 
Vaughn,  D.D.  Three  vols.  Richmond,  Presbyterian  Committee  of 
Publication,  1890-92.  Theology.  Third  edition.  Asbury  Park,  N.  J., 
Presbyterian  Publishing  Company,  1885. 

Foote,  Wm.  Henry,  D.D.,  Sketches  of  Virginia,  Historical  and  Bio- 
graphical. Philadelphia,  Wm.  S.  Martien,  142  Chestnut  Street,  1850. 
Also  ditto,  second  series.     Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  1855. 

Same  :  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  Historical  and  Biographical,  Illustrative 
of  the  Principles  of  a  portion  of  her  Early  Settlers.  New  York,  Robert 
Carter,  58  Canal  Street,  1846. 

Hays,  George  P.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  et  al.,  Presbyterians.  A  popular 
narrative  of  their  origin,  progress,  doctrines,  and  achievements.  New 
York,  J.  A.  Hill  &  Co.,  1892. 

Hodge,  Charles,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  The  Constitutional  History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ajnerica.  In  two  parts.  Phila- 
delphia, William  S.  Martien,  1840. 

Howe,  George,  D.D.,  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  South  Car- 
olina. Two  vols.  8vo.  Vol.  i.,  Columbia,  Duffie  &  Chapman,  1870; 
vol.  ii.,  Columbia,  W.  J.  Duffie,  1883. 

Laws,  S.  S.,  D.D.,  A  Letter  to  the  Synod  of  Missouri  (O.  S.),  which 
met  at  Columbia,  Mo.,  Oct.  8,  1872.  New  York,  S.  Angell,  Book  and 
Pamphlet  Printer,  410  Fourth  Avenue,  1873. 

McPheeters,  Samuel  B.,  Memoirs.  By  Rev.  John  S.  Grasty.  With  In- 
troduction by  Rev.  Stuart  Robinson,  D.D.  St.  Louis,  Southwestern 
Book  and  Publishing  Co.  ;  Louisville,  Davidson  Brothers  &  Co.,  1871. 

Moore,  Wm.  E.,  D.D.,  The  Presbyterian  Digest:  A  Compend  of  the  Acts 
and  Deliverances  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America.  Compiled  by  order  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, 1873.  Philadelphia,  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  1334  Chest- 
nut Street. 

Nevins,  Alfred,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  et  al.,  Encyclopedia  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  including  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Assemblies.  Philadelphia,  Presbyterian  Encyclopedia  Pub- 
lishing Co.,  1334  Chestnut  Street,  1884. 

Peck,  Thos.  E.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Notes  on  Ecclesiology.  Richmond,  Pres- 
byterian Committee  of  Publication,  1882. 

Smith,  Hon.  L.  F.,  The  History  of  Kentucky  (Centennial  edition)  from 
its  Earliest  Discovery  and  Settlement,  Embracing,  etc.  Louisville,  Courier 
Journal  Job  Printing  Co.,  1892. 

Thornwell,  James  Henley,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  The  collected  writings  of 
Edited  by  John  B.  Adger,  D.D.  Four  vols.  Richmond,  Presbyterian 
Committee  of  Publication,  1881-86.  The  Life  and  letters  of  By  B.  M. 
Palmer,  D.D.,  LL.D.    Richmond,  Whittet  &.  Shepperson,  1875. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  sketch  is  designed,  first  of  all,  to  trace  the  South- 
ern Presbyterian  Church  from  its  roots  in  Europe ;  to  ex- 
hibit its  origin  as  a  separate  church,  its  peculiar  constitution 
and  character,  its  growth  in  numbers  and  in  working  effi- 
ciency, its  work  at  home  and  abroad,  its  relation  to  other 
Christian  churches ;  to  set  forth,  thus,  the  great  problems 
now  before  it;  in  short,  to  put  before  the  student  what 
the  church  has  been,  and  is,  and  should  be  as  a  factor  in 
the  great  forces  which  go  to  make  up  universal  church 
history. 

It  is  designed,  secondly,  to  furnish  the  materials  for 
answers  to  three  specific  questions,  viz. :  Why  did  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  come  into  separate  exist- 
ence? Why  has  it  continued  till  the  present  a  separate 
existence  ?  Are  there  any  sufficient  reasons  why  it  should 
continue  for  a  longer  time  to  maintain  a  separate  exist- 
ence ?   These  are  paramount  questions  for  this  generation. 

We  have  believed  that  Christians  should  labor  for 
church  unity,  not  of  the  spirit  only,  but  of  the  form. 
While  exalting  the  spiritual  above  the  external,  and  hold- 
ing that  a  true  unity  in  Christ  the  head,  a  unity  established 
by  the  Spirit  and  maintained  by  the  same  blessed  agent, 
is  compatible  with  the  existence  of  a  host  of  denomina- 

3i5 


3i6 


PREFACE. 


tions,  we  have  believed  that  Christians  should  labor  to  ex- 
hibit that  unity  in  the  external  life  of  the  church;  and  that 
our  Lord's  intercessory  prayer  can  only  be  completely  ful- 
filled when  the  church  militant  is  outwardly  one. 

But  we  have,  also,  believed  that  a  church  must  exist 
as  a  separate  denomination  while,  and  only  while,  in  a 
convenient  territory,  it  has  .one  or  a  group  of  truths  of 
fundamental  importance  for  which  to  witness.  And  we 
have  believed,  furthermore,  that  there  can  be  no  union  of 
denominations  pleasing  in  God's  sight  which  is  not  intelli- 
gently effected.  We  believe  that  the  church  should  know 
its  own  past  and  its  present,  what  it  has  stood  for  and 
what  it  should  now  stand  for,  before  it  can,  in  a  way  to 
please  God,  propose  organic  union.  In  the  same  way  it 
should  know  its  neighbor  with  whom  it  thinks  of  uniting. 

We  have  done  what  we  could  in  these  few  pages  to  ex- 
hibit fearlessly  and  truthfully  what  appears  to  have  been 
the  true  character  and  purpose  of  our  church  to  the  pres- 
ent. Readers  of  more  schools  than  one,  perhaps,  will  be 
displeased  with  the  truth.  We  have  wished  to  be  con- 
vincing. We  have,  therefore,  resorted  to  laborious  com- 
piling, made  the  unimpeachable  records  of  the  churches  talk 
wherever  possible ;  and  we  have  tried  to  reduce  our  own 
personal  equation  to  the  lowest  degree.  We  have  let  the 
reader  look  through  his  own  eyes  at  the  facts,  instead  of 
through  ours. 

Thomas  Cary  Johnson. 

Hampden  Sidney,  Va., 
January,  1894. 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS  BEFORE  1 86 1.1 

The  European  sources  of  Southern  Presbyterians  are 
almost  as  numerous  as  European  nations ;  but  the  chief- 
est  of  such  sources  have  been  the  English  Presbyterians, 
the  Dutch,  the  Germans,  the  Swiss,  the  Huguenots,  the 
Scotch,  and  the  Scotch-Irish. 

The  English  Presbyterians  came  into  the  colonies  of 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  from  the  start.  Some  of  these 
were  nonconforming ;  and  of  these  those  in  Virginia  after 
1 53 1  or  1533  2  suffered  much  persecution,  some  of  them 
being  driven  to  the  colonies  of  Maryland  or  the  Carolinas, 
while  others  were  forced  into  conformity.  After  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  Presbyterian 
Church  came  to  be  formally  tolerated,  its  numerous  con- 
verts from  the  Episcopal  Church  showed,  with  a  degree  of 

1  This  chapter  is  intended  to  present  only  such  a  brief  sketch  of  Presby- 
terians, New  and  Old  School,  in  the  South,  before  1861,  as  is  necessary  to 
enable  the  reader  to  comprehend  the  body  whose  history  he  is  invited  to 
follow  through  the  period  1861-93.  For  a  fuller  account  of  these  peoples 
before  186 1,  the  reader  is  referred  to  vol.  vi.,  "  Presbyterians." 

2  Hodge,  part  i.,  p.  45.    Compare  Hays,  p.  60. 

317 


3i8 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap,  l 


probability,  that  there  had  been  many  conforming  Presby- 
terians in  that  church.  Indeed,  Alexander  Whitaker,  "  the 
self-denying  apostle  of  Virginia,"1  had  been  a  Cambridge 
Puritan.  He  had  established  a  Congregational  Presbytery2 
for  the  government  of  the  local  church.  He  had  written 
"neither  surplice  nor  subscription  is  spoken  of"  in  Vir- 
ginia.3 The  Puritans  in  the  Virginia  colony  continued  to 
have  great  freedom  up  to  about  1530.  After  that  they 
suffered  persecution,  as  we  have  asserted. 

The  Dutch  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Maryland 
and  of  Charleston,  S.  C.4  Later  they  were  found  in  the 
valley  of  Virginia,  and  throughout  the  South.  The  Ger- 
mans during  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  eighteenth 
century  immigrated  into  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas, 
and  Georgia,  chiefly  from  Pennsylvania,  but  also  directly 
from  South  Germany.5  Bodies  of  Swiss,  too,  came  into 
South  Carolina  between  1730  and  1750.6  The  Dutch  and 
Swiss  were  Presbyterians ;  and  so,  also,  was  a  moiety  of 
the  Germans.  The  Huguenots,  particularly  after  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  made  settlements  in 
our  borders,  the  chief  of  which  were  in  Virginia,  on  the 
James,  and  in  South  Carolina,  in  Charleston  and  its  neigh- 
borhood.7 The  Scotch  immigrated  into  our  territory  in 
large  numbers  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury on.  Scotchmen  from  Argyleshire  were  in  North 
Carolina  on  the  Cape  Fear  River  in  1 74 1 .  After  the 
battle  of  Culloden  and  the  defeat  of  the  Jacobites,  Scotch 
Highlanders  came  over  in  great  numbers  and  settled  be- 
side their  brethren  on  the  Cape  Fear  and  its  tributaries.8 
Scotchmen  settled  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  also,  in  parts  of  South  Carolina,  in  Georgia,  in 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  141.  2  Briggs,  p.  86. 

3  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  141.  4  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  430. 

5  Hodge,  part  i.,  p.  50.  6  Ibid. 

7  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  432.  8  Hodge,  part  i.,  p.  66. 


THE  ANCESTORS. 


319 


the  Piedmont  region  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and 
had  settled  at  a  much  earlier  time  in  Maryland.  The 
Scotch- Irish,  irritated  by  increase  of  rents,  and  by  a  tax 
to  support  a  church  not  of  their  choice,  began  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  more  rapid  immigra- 
tion into  America.  These  people,  coming  directly,  or 
after  a  stoppage  in  Pennsylvania,  spread  themselves  over 
the  valley  of  Virginia,  the  Piedmont  region  of  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas,  and  more  sparsely  over  the  whole  re- 
maining South  Atlantic  Colonies1 — "  a  staunch  and  stal- 
wart stock  "  of  Presbyterians. 

From  these  older  States  the  settlers,  or  their  children, 
subsequently  passed  over  into  the  lands  of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri,  of  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  of  Mississippi  and 
the  States  of  the  Southwest.  In  their  earlier  immigra- 
tions the  Scotch  and  Scotch- Irish  did  not,  as  a  rule,  settle 
in  large  bodies,  but  singly,  and  were  scattered  widely  over 
the  Middle  and  Southern  Colonies.  Hence,  up  to  1750 
they  had,  except  in  a  few  favored  localities,  no  regular 
religious  ministrations.  There  was,  of  course,  no  organic 
church  connection  among  them.  Independency,  even, 
was  in  the  ascendant  in  the  Charleston  colony,  the  most 
favored  of  them  all  in  the  ecclesiastical  privileges. 

Nevertheless,  from  about  1650  on,  Presbyterian  settlers 
in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina  were  looked 
after  by  such  servants  of  God  as  the  Revs.  Francis 
Doughty,  about  1657-59,  Matthew  Hill,  1667-76,  Will- 
iam Trail,  Francis  Makemie,  and  their  followers ;  while 
the  churches  of  Charleston  and  in  the  vicinity  were  served 
by  Puritans  like  John  Cotton,  or  Scotch  Presbyterians  like 
Archibald  Stobo,  and  their  followers. 

Their  Character,  as  Illustrated  in  the  Civil  and  Religious 
Life. — Under  this  guidance  and  the  "  favoring  conditions  of 
1  Hodge,  part  i.,  pp.  67,  68;  Howe,  vol.  i.,  pp.  197  ff. 


320 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chai\  i. 


our  Southern  life  "  these  several  strains  of  European  Pres- 
byterianism  were  so  blended  as  to  make  "  a  body  of  Chris- 
tians, singularly  homogeneous,  conservative,  truth-loving, 
and  ardently  devoted  to  right  and  liberty.  The  courtly 
and  cultivated  Huguenot,  the  stern  and  simple-hearted 
Highlander,  the  strong,  earnest,  faithful  Scotch- Irish,  the 
conscientious  Puritan,  and  the  frank,  honest  Teuton,  con- 
tributed of  the  wealth  of  their  character  and  the  glory  of 
their  history.  Devotion  to  principle  was  the  guiding  star  of 
their  action." 1  They  have  been  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
of  their  civil  rights.  No  people  has  shown  a  higher  degree 
of  patriotism.  The  act  of  the  Scotch- Irish  met  in  Abing- 
don, Va.,  January  20,  1775  ;2  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence,  made  on  the  20th  of  May,  1775  ;3  their 
conduct  in  the  Revolutionary  War — such  as  to  draw  from 
General  Washington  the  famous  encomium  on  the  men  of 
Western  Virginia — are  sufficient  proofs.  Nor  were  they 
prepared  to  show  less  of  heroic  devotion  to  the  country 
in  the  calamitous  struggle  of  1861.  They  have  been 
equally  zealous,  to  say  the  least,  for  religions  liberty. 
The  petition  from  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  dated  No- 
vember 11,  1774,  "To  the  Honorable  the  Speaker  and  the 
Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,"  of  Virginia,4  and 
the  memorials  from  the  same  Presbytery — in  1776°  and 
in  1  777 6 — to  the  same  legislative  body,  at  once  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  where  Mr.  Jefferson  got  his  views  of  religious 
liberty,  and  evince  the  fact  of  the  zeal  of  the  Presbyterian 
people  of  Virginia  for  religious  liberty.  These  people 
have  shown  themselves  as  eager  for  the  truth  as  for  lib- 

1  Dr.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  in  Hays's  "  Presbyterians,"  p.  480. 

2  Bancroft,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  100,  101  ;  Briggs,  p.  348. 

3  Bancroft,  vol.  iv.,  p.  196;  Briggs,  p.  340. 

4  This  petition  was  published  for  the  first  time  in  the  "  Central  Presby- 
terian," May  16,  1888,  by  the  Hon.  Win.  Wirt  Henry,  LL  D.,  Richmond,  Va. 

5  See  Foote's  "  Sketches  of  Virginia,"  series  i.,  pp.  323  ff. 

6  J  bid.,  series  i.,  pp.  326,  327. 


RICE'S  OVERTURE  ON  MISSIONS. 


321 


erty.  Academies  were  often  erected  beside  the  churches. 
The  pastors  were  frequently  teachers  as  well  as  preachers. 
Queen's  Museum,  in  Mecklenburg  County,  N.  C,  was 
founded  and  obtained  a  charter  from  the  colonial  govern- 
ment in  1770.  This  charter,  though  set  aside  by  the  king 
and  council,  was  amended,  and  a  second  time  granted  by 
the  colonial  legislature  in  1771.  The  king  repealed  it 
by  proclamation,  evidently  because  several  of  the  trus- 
tees were  Presbyterian  ministers.1  The  independent  com- 
monwealth of  North  Carolina  chartered  the  institution 
again  in  1777  as  Liberty  Hall.  About  the  same  time 
Hanover  Presbytery  took  "  into  consideration  the  great 
expediency  of  erecting  a  seminary  of  learning."  As  a 
result  academies  were  very  soon  established,  one  of  which 
grew  into  Washington  College  in  the  valley  of  Virginia, 
the  other  into  Hampden  Sidney  College  in  Southside, 
Va.,  each  being  at  once  a  monument  to  patriotism  and 
fidelity  to  religious  convictions,  and  the  means  of  support- 
ing these  virtues  as  long  as,  in  the  mercy  of  God,  it  shall 
remain  substantially  unperverted. 

So  the  church  ran  her  early  course. 

We  cannot,  in  this  sketch,  follow  her  in  detail  to  1861. 
That  can  be  fairly  inferred  from  her  start  and  from  her 
condition  on  the  eve  of  the  war  between  the  States.  We 
beg  leave,  though,  to  point  out  one  very  worthy  trait 
of  Southern  Presbyterians  during  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  They  were  a  missionary  body.  It 
was  from  Dr.  John  Holt  Rice,  the  founder  of  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  in  Virginia,  that  the  famous  overture 
on  missions  came  before  the  General  Assembly  of  1831. 
He  asked  the  Assembly  to  adopt  the  following  resolutions  : 

First,  That  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  is  a  missionary 
society,  the  object  of  which  is  to  aid  in  the  conversion  of  the  world;  and 

1  Foote's  "  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  513. 


322 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.        [Chap.  L 


that  every  member  of  the  church  is  a  member  for  life  of  the  said  society,  and 
bound,  in  maintenance  of  his  Christian  character,  to  do  all  in  his  power  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  object.  Second,  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  con- 
nection with  the  Presbyterian  Church  are  most  solemnly  required  to  present 
this  subject  to  the  members  of  their  respective  congregations,  using  every 
effort  to  make  them  feel  their  obligations  and  to  induce  them  to  contribute 
according  to  their  ability.1 

This  paper  stirred  the  church. 

The  Status  of  Southern  Presbyteriajis  in  1861. — In  1861 
there  were  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  12  synods 
of  the  Old  School  Church,  1275  churches,  and  96,550 
communicants.  There  were  three  flourishing  theological 
seminaries  within  her  bounds,  each  under  the  control  of  one 
or  more  synods,  viz.,  Union  Seminary  in  Virginia,  Colum- 
bia Seminary  in  Columbia,  S.  C,  and  Danville  in  Kentucky. 
There  were  important  colleges  under  the  more  or  less 
careful  superintendence  of  the  body,  e.g.,  Hampden  Sid- 
ney College  and  Washington  College  in  Virginia,  Davidson 
College  in  North  Carolina,  Center  College  in  Kentucky, 
et  al. 

In  1 86 1  there  were  in  the  same  territory,  constitut- 
ing the  United  Synod  of  the  South,  3  synods,  with  199 
churches,  11,581  communicants.  Steps  had  been  taken 
for  the  founding  of  a  theological  seminary,  and  $70,000 
had  been  subscribed  and  partly  paid  in  for  this  purpose. 
The  Synod  had  under  its  care  one  college,  at  Marysville, 
Tenn. 

No  part  of  the  church  had  a  more  cultivated  ministry 
than  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Old  School. 
Their  seminaries  were  manned  by  some  of  the  very  ablest 
men  in  either  of  the  two  churches,  North  and  South. 
Thornwell  was  in  his  meridian  splendor  at  Columbia; 
Dabney  and  Peck,  slower  in  reaching  their  maturity,  as 

1  For  the  whole  of  this  able  and  solemnly  important  paper  see  Assembly's 
Digest,  Baird's  Collection,  p.  363, 


LEADING  MINISTERS. 


323 


well  as  younger  in  years,  were  teaching  with  marked  abil- 
ity at  Union ;  Breckenridge  was  illustrating  as  the  day, 
or  obscuring,  according  to  his  subject,  as  the  night,  the 
themes  with  which  the  theologian  deals,  at  Danville ; 
Palmer  and  Hoge  and  others  were  edifying  as  well  as  de- 
lighting large  and  cultivated  audiences  day  after  day.  A 
ministry,  generally  highly  cultured  and  especially  trained, 
was  serving  with  acceptance  the  people  of  God.  No  con- 
siderable part  of  the  church  elsewhere  surpassed  the  South 
in  all  that  goes  to  make  intelligent  and  honest  Presbyte- 
rianism.  It  had  been  a  happy,  a  blessed  portion  of  the 
Church  of  God. 


1 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH  IN  THE 
CONFEDERATE  STATES. 

JUPITER  swallowed  Metis  lest  she  should  bear,  in  their 
coming  child,  one  wiser  than  himself.  But  that  child 
sprang,  the  fully  panoplied  Minerva,  wise  and  strong  and 
impregnably  chaste,  from  the  head  of  her  monster  father. 
If  any  one  had  asked,  "  What  are  the  grounds  on  which 
Minerva  claims  the  right  of  existence  among  the  gods 
and  goddesses?"  it  might  well  have  been  said:  "  On  the 
ground  of  the  virtuous  strength  and  happiness  which  she 
can  achieve  in  and  for  her  worshipers,  as  well  as  on  the 
ground  of  the  repentance  and  reformation  which  she  may 
be  able  to  work  among  the  gods  and  goddesses  them- 
selves, including  her  father." 

The  occasion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  coming  into  existence  was  the  successful  effort,  on 
the  part  of  the  majority  of  the  Old  School  Assembly  of 
1 86 1,  to  usurp  the  crown  rights  of  the  Redeemer  in  mak- 
ing new  terms  of  church-membership;  and,  in  the  same 
act,  to  prostitute  the  church  to  the  state  so  far  as  to  hold 
the  Southern  Presbyterians  to  the  support  of  the  Federal 
Government,  as  over  against  the  governments  of  their 
several  sovereign  States,  on  pain  of  ejection  from  the 
church  in  case  of  failure  to  comply  with  the  terms  of 
church-membership  thus  made. 

On  the  1 2th  of  April,  1 86 1 ,  the  Confederacy  had  been 
forced  to  begin  the  bombardment  of  Tort  Sumter;  for 
the  Federal  Government  had  been  about  to  provision  anew 

324 


THE  ASSEMBLY  OF  1861. 


325 


and  reinforce  and  render  unconquerable  this  doorway 
which  it  held  into  the  heart  of  the  South.  The  bombard- 
ment turned  out  to  be  so  successful  that  in  spite  of  a 
heroic  resistance  the  fort  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  South 
within  thirty-six  hours.  The  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  was  used 
with  consummate  skill  by  the  Northern  demagogues. 
Holy  Writ  tells  us  of  a  certain  Levite,  whose  concubine 
was  done  to  death  by  the  men  of  Gibeah  in  Benjamin, 
that  "  when  he  was  come  into  his  house,  he  took  a  knife, 
and  laid  hold  on  his  concubine,  and  divided  her,  together 
with  her  bones,  into  twelve  pieces,  and  sent  her  into  all 
the  coasts  of  Israel,  so  that  it  came  to  pass  that  all  that 
saw  it  said,  There  was  no  such  deed  done  nor  seen  from 
the  day  that  the  children  of  Israel  came  up  out  of  Egypt 
until  this  day."  Not  less  striking  were  the  representa- 
tions made  by  the  leaders  of  the  North  over  the  "  insult 
to  the  national  flag  in  attacking  Fort  Sumter."  The  pas- 
sions of  the  masses  were  aroused.  The  whole  country 
was  aflame  with  war.  On  the  15th  of  April  President 
Lincoln  issued  a  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers 
to  quell  the  "  insurrection,"  as  he  called  it.  Though  his 
proclamation  drove  four  more  States  into  the  Confeder- 
acy, the  rest  of  the  country  responded  with  four  times  as 
many  men  as  he  asked  for. 

The  Assembly  of  1 861,  which  convened  in  Philadelphia 
on  May  16th,  met  in  an  atmosphere  surcharged  with  the 
war-spirit.  Many  ministers  and  elders  from  all  sections 
of  the  country  had  fondly  hoped  that  the  church  might 
maintain  her  unity  in  spite  of  political  disunion.  They 
had  hoped  that  her  spirituality,  her  divine  origin,  and 
Christ-like  character  might  be  all  the  more  brightly  illus- 
trated by  her  course  in  the  midst  of  what  even  then  gave 
awful  promise  of  being  one  of  the  fiercest  civil  wars  of 
all  history.    But  their  hopes  were  doomed  to  an  early 


326 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


blighting.  Such  union  could  only  be  maintained  by  the 
church's  keeping  within  her  own  sphere,  and  steering 
clear  of  the  political  issues  on  which  the  ship  of  state  had 
become  dismembered.  And  there  was  a  party — at  first 
small,  but  destined  to  rapid  growth  under  extraneous 
pressure  and  ignoble  motives1 — in  the  church  which  had 
determined  to  make  the  General  Assembly  indorse  the 
Federal  Government  at  Washington  and  pledge  its  sup- 
port thereto.  This  was,  of  course,  to  prostitute  the  church 
to  the  state — nay,  to  a  party  in  the  state.  But  what  is  it 
men  will  not  prostitute,  and  to  what  will  they  not  make 
that  prostitution  when  driven  on  by  prejudice,  passion,  and 
revenge  ? 

The  venerable  Dr.  Spring,  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York,  probably  at  the  urgent  insistence  of 
others,  with  a  clearer  vision  of  the  nature  and  consequence 
of  the  action  but  with  less  of  conscience  than  himself 
thereat,  so  early  as  the  third  day  of  the  Assembly  intro- 
duced the  following  resolution : 

That  a  special  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of 
the  Assembly's  making  some  expression  of  their  devotion  to  the  Union  of 
these  States,  and  their  loyalty  to  the  government ;  and  if  in  their  judgment 
it  is  expedient  so  to  do,  they  report  what  that  expression  shall  be.2 

1  Dr.  J.  H.  Vandyke  says:  "There  was  at  first  a  large  majority  who 
were  opposed  to  any  political  deliverance  whatever.  They  were  in  favor  of 
simply  asserting  the  great  Scriptural  doctrine  of  obedience  to  civil  rulers, 
accompanied  by  kind  injunctions  to  study  the  things  that  made  for  peace. 
But  as  the  Assembly  proceeded  with  its  business,  the  pressure  from  without, 
and  a  little  leaven  working  within,  changed  the  spirit  and  purposes  of  the 
body.  That  kind  of  martyrdom  so  eloquently  portrayed  by  Dr.  Thomas  a 
few  days  ago,  as  consisting  of  applause  in  the  galleries,  and  other  indications 
of  popular  will,  began  to  make  its  influence  felt.  There  were,  moreover, 
indications  of  another  kind  of  martyrdom  in  the  streets,  whose  instruments 
would  not  be  waving  of  pocket-handkerchiefs  and  clapping  of  fair  hands,  but 
tar  and  feathers,  ropes  and  lamp-posts.  .  .  .  Whether  from  these  causes  or 
not,  it  is  well  known  that  the  Assembly  underwent  a  speedy  and  marvelous 
change  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  purpose ;  until  '  in  an  evil  hour  her  rash  hand 
reaching  forth,'  she  passed  the  famous,  or  rather  infamotis,  Spring  Resolu- 
tion."— "Concise  Record  of  the  Assembly,"  1866,  p.  55. 

2  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  O.  S.,  1861,  p.  303. 


REV.  DR.  SPRING'S  RESOLUTIONS. 


327 


This  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  123 
to  102.  But  the  Progressives  were  not  to  be  balked. 
Only  three  days  later  Dr.  Spring  offered  a  paper  with 
resolutions  respecting  the  appointment  of  religious  so- 
lemnities for  the  4th  of  July  next,  and  the  duty  of  min- 
isters and  churches  in  relation  to  the  "  condition  of  our 
country."  1  The  house  made  the  consideration  of  these 
resolutions  the  first  order  of  the  day  for  the  Friday 
next,  May  24th.  Friday  brought  a  protracted  and  heated 
debate  over  the  resolutions,  and  a  substitute  moved  by 
Dr.  Charles  Hodge.  The  debate  continued  Saturday  and 
Monday.  Monday  evening  there  was  an  effort  made,  under 
the  lead  of  Dr.  Hodge,  to  lay  the  whole  business  on  the 
table;  but  it  was  defeated,  the  vote  being  87  yeas  and 
153  nays.  Tuesday  morning  the  matter  was  referred  to 
a  special  committee,  with  instructions  to  report  in  the 
afternoon.  Nine  were  appointed  on  this  committee.  They 
presented  a  majority  report  with  eight  names  affixed, 
and  a  minority  report  with  one  name  subscribed,  that  of 
Dr.  William  C.  Anderson,  of  San  Francisco.  After  further 
discussion  the  majority  report  failed  of  adoption,  the  vote 
standing  84  yeas  and  128  nays.  Dr.  Anderson's  report 
was  then  taken  up.  It  consisted  of  Dr.  Spring's  resolu- 
tions, with  a  slight  alteration.  It  received  an  amendment, 
making  the  report  as  follows : 

Gratefully  acknowledging  the  distinguished  bounty  and  care  of  Almighty 
God  toward  this  favored  land,  and  recognizing  our  obligation  to  submit  to 
every  ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake,  this  General  Assembly  adopts 
the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  I.  That  in  view  of  the  present  agitated  and  unhappy  condition 
of  our  country,  the  first  day  of  July  next  be  set  apart  as  a  day  of  prayer 
throughout  our  bounds  ;  and  that  on  this  day  ministers  and  people  be  called 
on  humbly  to  confess  and  bewail  our  national  sins ;  to  offer  our  thanks  to  the 
Father  of  lights  for  his  abundant  and  undeserved  goodness  toward  us  as  a 
nation ;  to  seek  his  guidance  and  blessing  upon  our  rulers  and  their  coun- 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1861,  p.  308. 


328 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


sels,  as  well  as  on  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  about  to  assemble;  and 
to  implore  him,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  High-Priest  of  the 
Christian  profession,  to  turn  away  his  anger  from  us,  and  speedily  restore 
to  us  the  blessings  of  an  honorable  peace. 

Resolved,  2.  That  this  General  Assembly,  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  patriot- 
ism which  the  Scriptures  enjoin,  and  which  has  always  characterized  this 
church,  do  hereby  acknowledge  and  declare  our  obligations  to  promote  and 
perpetuate,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  the  integrity  of  these  United  States,  and  to 
strengthen,  uphold,  and  encourage  the  Federal  Government  in  the  exercise 
of  all  its  functions  under  our  noble  Constitution  ;  and  to  this  Constitution,  in 
all  its  provisions,  requirements,  and  principles,  we  profess  our  unabated 
loyalty.  And  to  avoid  all  misconceptions,  the  Assembly  declare  that  by  the 
terms  the  "  Federal  Government,"  as  here  used,  is  not  meant  any  particular 
administration,  or  the  peculiar  opinions  of  any  particular  party,  but  that 
central  administration  which,  being  at  any  time  appointed  and  inaugurated 
according  to  the  forms  prescribed  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is 
the  visible  representative  of  our  national  existence.1 

This  paper  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  156  yeas  to  66 
nays.  It  was  revolutionary,  filled  with  the  very  genius  of 
usurpation  and  prostitution  of  the  things  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Dr.  Hodge  and  others  gave  notice  that  they  pro- 
tested against  this  action  of  the  Assembly  for  reasons  to 
be  given.  The  protest  when  it  came  was  substantially  as 
follows : 

We,  the  undersigned,  respectfully  protest  against  the  action  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  adopting  the  minority  report  of  the  committee  on  the  state  of 
the  country. 

We  make  this  protest,  not  because  we  do  not  acknowledge  loyalty  to  our 
country  to  be  a  moral  and  religious  duty,  according  to  the  Word  of  God, 
which  requires  us  to  be  subject  to  the  powers  that  be,  nor  because  we  deny 
the  right  of  the  Assembly  to  enjoin  that,  and  all  other  like  duties,  on  the 
ministers  and  churches  under  its  care,  but  because  we  deny  the  right  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  decide  the  political  question  to  what  government  the 
allegiance  of  Presbyterians  as  citizens  is  due,  and  its  right  to  make  that  de- 
cision a  condition  of  membership  in  our  church. 

That  the  paper  adopted  by  the  Assembly  does  decide  the  political  question 
just  stated  is  in*  our  judgment  undeniable.  It  asserts,  not  only  the  loyalty  of 
this  body  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  but  it  promises,  in  the  name  of 
all  the  churches  and  ministers  whom  it  represents,  to  do  all  that  in  them 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  O.  S.,  1861,  pp.  329,  330. 


REV.  DR.  HODGE'S  PROTEST. 


329 


lies  to  strengthen,  uphold,  and  encourage  the  Federal  Government.  It  is, 
however,  a  notorious  fact  that  many  of  our  ministers  and  members  conscien- 
tiously believe  that  the  allegiance  of  the  citizens  of  this  country  is  primarily 
due  to  the  States  to  which  they  respectively  belong;  and,  therefore,  that 
when  any  State  renounces  its  connection  with  the  United  States  and  its  alle- 
giance to  the  Constitution,  the  citizens  of  that  State  are  bound  by  the  laws 
of  God  to  continue  loyal  to  their  State,  and  obedient  to  its  laws.  The  paper 
adopted  by  the  Assembly  virtually  declares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  alle- 
giance of  the  citizen  is  due  to  the  United  States,  anything  in  the  Constitution 
or  ordinances  or  laws  of  the  several  States  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

It  is  not  the  loyalty  of  the  members  constituting  this  Assembly,  nor  of  our 
churches  or  ministers  in  any  one  portion  of  our  country,  that  is  thus  asserted, 
but  the  loyalty  of  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church,  North  and  South,  East 
and  West. 

Allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government  is  recognized  or  declared  to  be  the 
duty  of  all  churches  and  ministers  represented  in  this  body.  In  adopting  this 
paper,  therefore,  the  Assembly  does  decide  the  great  political  question  which 
agitates  and  divides  the  country.  The  question  is,  Whether  the  allegiance  of 
our  citizens  is  primarily  to  the  State  or  to  the  Union.  However  clear  our 
own  convictions  of  the  correctness  of  this  decision  may  be,  or  however  deeply 
we  may  be  impressed  with  its  importance,  yet  it  is  not  a  question  which  this 
Assembly  has  a  right  to  decide. 

That  the  action  of  the  Assembly  in  the  premises  does  not  only  decide  the 
political  question  referred  to,  but  makes  that  decision  a  term  of  membership 
in  our  church,  is  no  less  clear.  It  puts  into  the  mouths  of  all  represented 
in  this  body  a  declaration  of  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the  Union  and  to  the 
Federal  Government.  But  such  a  declaration  made  by  our  members  residing 
in  what  are  called  the  seceding  States  is  treasonable.  Presbyterians  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  those  States  cannot,  therefore,  make  that  declaration. 
They  are  consequently  forced  to  choose  between  allegiance  to  their  State  and 
allegiance  to  the  church. 

The  General  Assembly,  in  thus  deciding  a  political  question,  and  making 
that  decision  practically  a  condition  of  membership  to  the  church,  has  in  our 
judgment  violated  the  constitution  of  the  church,  and  usurped  the  prerogative 
of  the  Divine  Master.  .  .  . 

In  the  third  place,  we  protest  because  we  regard  the  action  of  the  Assembly 
as  altogether  unnecessary  and  uncalled  for.  .  .  .  We  are  fully  persuaded  that 
we  best  promote  the  interests  of  the  country  by  preserving  the  integrity  and 
unity  of  the  church. 

We  regard  this  action  of  the  Assembly,  therefore,  as  a  great  national 
calamity,  as  well  as  the  most  disastrous  to  the  interests  of  our  church  which 
has  marked  its  history. 

We  protest,  fourthly,  because  we  regard  the  action  of  the  Assembly  as 
unjust  and  cruel  in  its  bearings  on  our  Southern  brethren. 

And  finally,  we  protest  because  we  believe  the  act  of  the  Assembly  will  not 


33Q 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


only  diminish  the  resources  of  the  church,  hut  greatly  weaken  its  power  for 
good,  and  expose  it  to  the  danger  of  heing  carried  away  more  and  more  from 
its  true  principles  by  a  worldly  and  fanatical  spirit.1 

Fifty-seven  other  men,  along  with  Dr.  Hodge,  honored 
•  themselves  by  affixing  their  names  to  this  paper,  which  for 
its  political  and  ecclesiastical  sagacity,  its  gentlemanly  and 
Christian  spirit,  is  deserving  of  everlasting  admiration. 
Fourteen  of  the  only  sixteen  Southern  commissioners 
were  among  the  signers.  The  other  forty-four  names  in- 
cluded, in  addition  to  that  of  the  revered  Princeton  theolo- 
gian, that  of  the  moderator,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  T.  Backus, 
and  of  the  moderator  of  the  preceding  Assembly,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  W.  Yeomans,  who  had  preached  the  opening  ser- 
mon on  the  text  John  xviii.  36,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world  "  ;  and  many  more  names  of  the  wisest  and  god- 
liest  men  of  the  whole  North. 

The  best  possible  foil  for  Dr.  Hodge's  protest,  one  that 
makes  it  shine  like  a  jewel  in  an  ash-bank,  was  the  answer 
to  it  by  the  Assembly's  committee.  They  "  readily  ad- 
mitted "  that  the  Assembly's  action  had  political  as  well 
as  moral  bearings ;  and  then  went  on  to  produce  an  almost 
matchless  specimen  of  pettifogging  and  sophistical  dema- 
goguery  in  the  vain  attempt  to  support  the  Assembly  as 
just  and  Scriptural  in  its  conduct.  The  haters  of  democ- 
racy might  find  in  this  instance  a  very  convenient  proof  of 
the  folly  of  the  rule  by  the  mere  numerical  majority  in 
collusion  against  principle  and  intelligence.2  In  itself  it 
would  be  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  illustrate 
the  Machiavellianism  of  this  reply  at  length,  but  it  would 
carry  us  too  far  aside  from  the  particular  course  of  events 
with  which  we  are  directly  concerned.  We  recall  our  at- 
tention, therefore,  to  the  Spring  resolutions,  and  to  the 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1861,  pp.  339,  340. 

2  See  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  O.  S.,  1861,  pp.  342-344. 


EFFECT  OF  THE  RESOLUTIONS. 


331 


view  taken  of  them  by  Dr.  Hodge  and  his  party  in  the 
North.  That  party  was  not  moved  by  sectionalism.  Its 
judgment  was  not  warped  by  self-interest.  It  was  not  a 
secession  party.  It  was  not  largely  a  slave-owning  party. 
The  student  of  history  will  remember  these  facts  when 
studying  the  reception  which  Southern  Presbyterians  gave 
the  resolutions  by  the  venerable  pastor  of  the  Brick 
Church.  There  is  no  proof  of  their  having  been  moved 
by  schism,  heresy,  or  selfishness. 

Almost  the  whole  Southern  wing  of  the  church  regarded 
the  Assembly's  action  just  as  the  conservative  party  in 
the  North  did.  They  saw :  first,  that  the  political  ques- 
tion had  been  decided  for  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church 
represented  in  the  Assembly ;  second,  that  the  action  of 
the  Assembly  in  the  premises  did  not  only  decide  the  po- 
litical question  referred  to,  but  made  that  decision  a  term 
of  membership  in  the  church;  third,  that  it  was  cruel  in 
its  bearings  on  the  Southern  members  of  the  church, 
making  them  renounce  allegiance  either  to  church  or 
state;  fourth,  that  in  the  political  adjudication  the  church 
had  been  guilty  of  usurpation  of  the  Redeemer's  rights, 
and  the  prostitution  of  the  Redeemer's  bride ;  fifth,  that, 
finally,  the  flood-gates  of  politico-religious  syncretism,  of 
fanaticism,  had  been  thrown  open.  These  things  they 
saw ;  and  these  things,  together  with  the  actual  setting  up 
of  the  Confederate  Government,  were  the  objective  causes, 
the  occasions,  of  the  rise  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
South. 

Some  of  the  strongest  intellects  as  well  as  some  of  the 
most  devoted  Christian  ministers  in  the  whole  church  were 
in  the  South.  They  desired  a  church  on  whose  banner 
should  be  inscribed,  "  The  Spirituality  of  the  Church," 
'"'The  power  of  the  Church  Court  as  to  kind  and  degree 
only  what  the  Word  of  God  as  interpreted  by  the  Stand- 


332 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  IL 


ards  of  the  Church  makes  it,"  "  A  faithful  adherence  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church,"  "The  absolute  Headship 
of  Christ  in  the  Church."  They  wanted  a  church,  and  a 
better  one  than  that  from  which  they  had  been  virtually 
ejected.  They  wanted  a  church  that  looked  to  her  bride- 
groom as  her  very  lord,  that  wore  not  the  skirts  of  a 
prostitute;  a  church  whose  courts  "  would  never  ask  what 
might  be  a  man's  view  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  doctrine  of  State  rights,  or  of  any  other 
political  question  "  ;  but  "  What  does  he  think  of  the  head- 
ship of  Christ,  of  the  atonement,  of  regeneration?  is  he 
willing  to  adopt  sincerely  and  in  their  true  import  our 
time-honored  standard  of  doctrine  and  church  order?"1 
Such  a  church  as  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  had  been, 
but  was  no  longer,  a  church  of  their  own  people,  among 
whom  homogeneity  would  prevent  all  retarding  friction  of 
her  chariot-wheels  as  her  armies  should  go  forth  against 
the  world.  They  wanted  a  church  for  their  own  sakes, 
their  fellows'  sakes,  and  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  God. 

In  these  glorious  aspirations  and  honorable  desires  we 
find  the  true  causes  of  the  existence  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  South.  As  these  causes  are  to  receive  fuller 
illustration  incidentally  as  we  proceed,  we  shall  for  the 
present  dispense  with  their  further  elucidation,  and  pass 
on  to  trace  the  organization  of  the  church  in  process,  and 
then  to  set  forth  the  completeness  of  the  form  of  organi- 
zation, and  its  adjustment  to  its  ecclesiastical  environment. 

The  Organization  of  the  Body  and  its  Adjustment  to 
its  Environment. — Most  of  the  Southern  Presbyteries — 
all,  perhaps — had  held,  as  the  custom  is,  their  spring  meet- 
ings prior  to  the  time  of  the  Philadelphia  Assembly.  But 
such  of  them  as  had  adjourned  meetings,  or  pro  re  nata 

1  See  speech  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Vandyke,  in  "  Concise  Records  of  the  Assembly 
of  St.  Louis,"  1866,  p.  54. 


THE  SOUTHERN  CHURCH  ORGANIZED.  333 


meetings,  on  the  heel  of  that  Assembly,  protested  with 
various  degrees  of  vigor  against  the  high-handed  usurpa- 
tion and  abhorred  degradation  of  that  body.  The  Pres- 
bytery of  Memphis,  in  an  adjourned  meeting  on  the  13th 
of  June,  renounced  connection  with  the  Assembly  for  its 
unchristian  and  revolutionary  action,  and  requested  all 
concurring  Presbyteries  to  meet  with  them  by  their  com- 
missioners, in  Memphis,  on  the  third  Thursday  in  May, 
1863,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  General  Assembly. 
It  also  suggested  to  the  Presbyteries  the  advisability  of 
their  calling  meetings  and  appointing  delegates  to  a  con- 
vention to  meet  in  Atlanta  on  the  15th  of  August,  "  to  con- 
sult upon  various  important  matters,  especially  our  benev- 
olent operations."  This  action  was  immediately  followed 
by  that  of  the  East  Alabama  Presbytery,  which  was  called 
together  to  consider  the  matter.  It  did  not  secede  from 
the  Assembly,  but  earnestly  protested,  and  declared  that 
it  would  not  acquiesce  in  the  Assembly's  action.  It  then 
called  for  a  convention  of  the  Presbyteries  to  meet  in 
Columbia,  S.  C,  on  the  Thursday  before  the  second  Sun- 
day in  September,  1 861,  aiming  thus  to  secure  cooperative 
action. 

On  the  9th  of  July  the  Presbytery  of  New  Orleans 
formally  renounced  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Old  Assembly, 
ordered  that  a  copy  of  their  action  be  sent  to  the  South- 
ern Presbyteries,  and  requested  them,  if  they  should  con- 
cur in  this  action,  to  send  commissioners  authorized  to 
organize  an  Assembly,  to  commence  its  meetings  on  the 
4th  of  December,  1861,  in  Augusta,  Ga. 

About  the  same  time  many  of  the  Presbyteries  met  and 
chose  delegates  to  a  convention  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  during 
July.  Individuals  throughout  the  church  had  been  calling 
for  such  a  convention,  as  an  advisory  body.  Prominent 
ministers  in  the  Synod  of  Virginia  had,  on  the  close  of  the 


334 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


Philadelphia  Assembly,  at  once  published  a  circular,  invit- 
ing ministers  and  elders  in  Southern  Synods  to  meet  in 
convention  in  Richmond,  Va.,  on  the  24th  of  July.  Prom- 
inent ministers  in  the  South  Carolina  Synod  early  agitated 
the  calling  of  such  a  convention;  and  Dr.  Thornwell,  at 
least,  expressed  a  preference  for  the  Piedmont  region  of 
North  Carolina,  and  named,  specially,  Greensboro  as  a 
suitable  place.  Such  a  convention  was  needed  to  give 
harmony  of  action  touching  their  relation  to  the  Old 
Assembly,  to  the  several  Presbyteries  and  Synods,  and  to 
prevent  the  evils  which  might  arise  from  a  temporary  dis- 
organization, especially  to  make  some  temporary  arrange- 
ment concerning  the  benevolent  operations  of  the  church. 
The  upshot  of  all  these  calls  for  a  convention  was  the  final 
fixing  upon  Atlanta  as  the  place,  and  the  15th  of  August, 
1 86 1,  as  the  time,  for  a  convention  of  representatives  from 
the  Presbyteries. 

The  Atlanta  Convention  met  at  the  time  and  place  ap- 
pointed. It  was  composed  of  twenty  delegates  from 
eleven  Presbyteries,  with  fourteen  corresponding  members 
from  six  Presbyteries,  and  was  in  session  three  days.  In 
reference  to  the  benevolent  operations,  it  suggested  and 
recommended  that  the  work  of  education,  publication,  do- 
mestic missions,  etc.,  should  be  left  to  the  Presbyteries, 
Synods,  and  the  Southwestern  Advisory  Committee  of 
New  Orleans ;  "  but  as  to  foreign  missions,  the  convention 
indorsed  the  temporary  plan  for  conducting  this  work 
which  had  been  devised  by  certain  brethren  in  Columbia, 
S.  C,  and  pledged  the  support  of  the  Presbyteries  repre- 
sented in  the  convention  to  it."1  In  reference  to  the 
action  touching  their  relations  to  the  Old  Assembly,  the 

1  Alexander's  "Digest,"  p.  68.  We  acknowledge  here  our  indebtedness 
to  Mr.  Alexander  for  his  account  of  the  Atlanta  Convention,  which  we  have 
freely  used  in  constructing  ours. 


THE  AUGUSTA  CONVENTION. 


335 


convention  urged  all  such  Presbyteries  as  had  not  re- 
nounced the  jurisdiction  of  the  Old  Assembly  to  do  so, 
and  urged  all  the  Presbyteries  to  declare  their  adherence 
and  submission  to  the  standards  as  formerly  held,  with 
the  single  change  of  the  phrase  "  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America"  to  this  form,  viz.,  "  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America." 
It  further  urged  that  these  Presbyteries  send  commis- 
sioners to  a  General  Assembly  to  be  held  in  Augusta, 
Ga.,  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  next  December;  that  Rev. 
Dr.  Waddel,  Rev.  Dr.  Gray,  and  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Jones,  of 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  be  a  committee  on  commissions  to  examine 
the  credentials  of  all  who  should  be  present ;  and  that  the 
respective  Synods  review  the  records  of  the  Presbyteries 
and  confirm  the  actions  herein  proposed.  Though  a  con- 
vention, this  body  "  disclaimed  the  right  to  determine  the 
political  relations  of  individuals,  or  to  solve  for  them  polit- 
ical questions." 

The  convention  did  just  what  it  was  intended  to  do.  It 
secured  substantial  unanimity  of  action  touching  relations 
to  the  Old  Assembly,  and  touching  relations  to  the  stand- 
ards, on  the  part  of  all  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods. 
And  it  gave  a  certain  support  to  the  temporary  agencies 
of  the  church  until  the  Assembly  should  meet  and  place 
them  on  a  stable  footing.  During  the  remainder  of  the 
summer  and  fall  forty-seven  Presbyteries,  each  for  itself, 
dissolved  connection  with  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
"  This  separation,"  says  Dr.  Palmer,  "  was  based  in  every 
case  upon  the  unconstitutional  character  of  the  Assem- 
bly's legislation.  We  give  the  language  employed  by  a 
single  Presbytery,  as  showing  the  common  ground  upon 
which  they  all  stood :  Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  un- 
constitutional, Erastian,  tyrannical,  and  virtually  exscind- 


336 


THE  SOUTHERX  PRESBYTERIAXS.       [Chap.  ii. 


ing  act  of  the  late  General  Assembly,  sitting  at  Philadel- 
phia in  May  last,  we  do  hereby,  with  a  solemn  protest 
against  this  act,  declare,  in  the  fear  of  God,  our  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  to  be  dissolved."1  These  words  are 
from  the  minutes  of  Dr.  Palmer's  own  Presbytery.  That 
he  is  correct  in  setting  them  forth  as  containing  the  com- 
mon ground  on  which  all  the  Presbyteries  stood  admits  of 
no  doubt.  Their  sober  truth  is  no  more  than  an  adequate 
expression  of  the  Assembly's  action  as  seen  by  clear- 
headed and  stout-hearted  Presbyterians  throughout  the 
South.  Before  the  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly  at  Augusta,  the  forty-seven  Presbyteries,  with 
their  ten  Synods,  had  been  completely  organized  under 
a  common  constitution,  and  the  Presbyteries  had  duly 
authorized  and  appointed  commissioners  to  form  said 
Assembly. 

The  First  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  South,  convened,  according  to  appointment,  on 
the  4th  of  December,  1 86 1 .  One  of  the  most  venerable 
ministers  present,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  McFarland,  pre- 
sided until  a  regular  organization  could  be  effected.  On 
his  motion  the  Rev.  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer  was  unanimously 
chosen  to  preach  the  opening  sermon.  Dr.  Palmer  took 
for  his  text  Ephesians  i.  22,  23 — "  And  gave  him  to  be 
head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body,  the 
fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all."  The  preacher  felt 
the  responsibility  of  the  moment.  What  was  of  greater 
importance,  he  was  prepared  for  it.  Endowed  with  a 
force,  splendor,  and  enthusiasm  like  Homer's,  a  fiery 
logic  like  Paul's,  the  speaker  had  acquired  an  eloquence 
comparable  to  Burke's.  He  was  habitually  an  honest 
student,  and  hence  a  well-furnished  preacher  on  all  occa- 

1  Palmer's  "  Life  of  Thornwell,"  pp.  502,  503. 


REV.  DR.  PALMER'S  SERMON. 


337 


sions.  On  great  occasions  he  had  the  mettle  in  him 
which  responded  readily  to  the  unusual  pressure.  The 
present  was  a  very  great  occasion.  After  an  exordium 
which  makes  the  reader  think  that  Palmer  has  a  right  to 
preach  on  the  sublime  passages  of  him  who,  while  de- 
scribing himself  as  rude  in  speech,  yet  wrote  as  the  lord 
thereof,  the  preacher  announced  his  subject  as :  "  The  su- 
preme dominion  to  which  Christ  is  exalted  as  the  Head 
of  the  church,  and  the  glory  of  the  church  in  that  rela- 
tion, as  being  at  once  his  body  and  his  fullness." 

The  flood-gates  of  discourse  were  raised,  and  the 
waters  gushed  forth.  The  sermon  was  a  true  unfolding 
of  the  great  theme  announced.  There  was  but  little 
direct  allusion  to  the  situation  of  the  church  and  the 
country.  The  chief  of  such  passages  should  be  set  forth 
to  the  reader.  The  preacher  had  been  speaking  of  the 
glory  which  "  surrounds  the  church,"  in  virtue  of  the 
headship  of  Clirist  over  it.  "  The  immortal  Church  of 
Christ,  which  survives  all  change  and  never  knows  decay, 
.  .  .  outliving  all  time,  and  henceforth  counting  her  years 
upon  the  dial  of  Eternity."  He  at  length  breaks  out: 
"  Do  we  understand,  fathers  and  brethren,  the  mission  of 
the  church  given  us  here  to  execute?  It  is  to  lift  through- 
out the  world  our  testimony  for  this  headship  of  Christ. 
The  convocation  of  this  Assembly  is  in  part  this  testimony. 
But  a  little  while  since  it  was  attempted  in  the  most 
august  court  of  our  church  to  place  the  crown  of  our 
Lord  upon  the  head  of  Caesar — to  bind  that  body  which 
is  Christ's  fullness  to  the  chariot  in  which  Caesar  rides. 
The  intervening  months  have  sufficiently  discovered  the 
character  of  that  state  under  whose  yoke  this  church  was 
summoned  to  bow  the  neck  in  meek  obedience;  but  in 
advance  of  these  disclosures,  the  voice  went  up  through- 
out our  land  in  indignant  remonstrance  against  the  usurpa- 


338 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  H. 


tion,  in  solemn  protest  against  the  sacrilege.  And  now 
this  parliament  of  the  Lord's  freemen  solemnly  declares, 
that,  by  the  terms  of  her  great  charter,  none  but  Jesus 
may  be  King  in  Zion.  Once  more,  in  this  distant  age 
and  in  these  ends  of  the  earth,  the  church  must  declare 
for  the  supremacy  of  her  Head,  and  fling  out  the  conse- 
crated ensign  with  the  old  inscription,  '  For  Christ  and  his 
Crown.'"1 

The  Assembly  honored  itself  by  directing  the  publica- 
tion of  the  sermon  in  the  appendix  to  the  minutes.  So 
far  as  we  know,  it  is  the  only  sermon  which  has  been  so 
published  in  the  history  of  our  church.  Dr.  Palmer  was 
made  moderator  of  the  Assembly. 

The  organization  of  the  church,  including  its  agencies 
for  carrying  on  all  the  great  enterprises  of  Christian 
effort,  and  the  orientation  of  the  church  before  the  world, 
and  especially  before  the  otlier  churches  of  Jcsjis  Christ 
throughout  the  earth,  was  to  be  the  great  work  of  the 
Assembly.  As  soon  as  the  court  had  been  organized 
Dr.  Thornwell  introduced  two  resolutions,  which  were 
unanimously  adopted.    They  were  as  follows : 

[.  That  the  style  and  title  of  this  church  shall  be  The  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 

2.  That  this  Assembly  declare,  in  conformity  with  the  unanimous  decision 
of  our  Presbyteries,  that  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  the  Forms  of  Government,  the  Book  of  Discipline,  and  the  Di- 
rectory of  Worship,  which  together  make  up  the  constitution  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  are  the  constitution  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America;  only  substituting 
the  term  "  Confederate  States  "  for  "  United  States."2 

In  1865,  influenced  by  the  issue  of  the  war,  the  church 
came  under  the  necessity  of  changing  its  name  somewhat, 
and  from  that  time  has  borne  the  legal  style  and  title  of 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States,"  1861,  p.  71. 

2  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1861,  p.  7. 


ORGANIZA  TION  EFFECTED. 


339 


"The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States."  Of 
changes  in  the  constitution  we  shall  have  something  to 
say  in  a  future  chapter. 

As  one  looks  over  the  proceedings  of  this  Assembly, 
he  observes  that  though  it  is  but  an  hour  old,  it  is  not 
wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes.  In  the  ordinary  routine 
work  of  such  a  body,  it  shows  no  signs  of  infancy.  But 
we  marvel  not  at  this ;  for  many  of  the  members  are 
among  the  most  skillful  presbyters  who  could  have  been 
found  in  the  undivided  church.  But  we  do  look  on  with 
admiration  as  this  fully  grown  young  giant  begins  to  rig 
the  ship  in  which  it  is  to  breast  the  waves  and  face  the 
foes  of  an  indefinite  future. 

One  of  the  first  as  well  as  the  most  notable  things 
which  the  Assembly  did  was  to  organize  a  permanent 
agency  for  conducting  foreign  missions.  And  as  the  prin- 
ciples of  organization  involved  in  the  establishment  of  the 
executive  committee  of  foreign  missions  were  applied  in 
all  the  executive  committees  established  by  the  Assembly, 
we  may  with  profit  bring  out  somewhat  fully  this  plan 
of  the  Assembly.  Nor  can  this  be  better  done  than  by 
transcribing  here  the  vital,  parts  of  the  resolutions  which 
the  body  passed  as  a  means  to  the  organization  of  said 
committee ;  and  the  vital  parts  of  those  touching  its  at- 
titude to  the  missions  committed  already  by  Providence 
to  its  care,  and  to  the  unchristian  and  papal  peoples  over 
the  face  of  the  globe. 

For  the  organization  of  a  permanent  agency  for  con- 
ducting foreign  missions,  the  following  resolutions  were 
adopted : 

Resolved,  i.  That  this  General  Assembly  proceed  to  appoint  an  Executive 
Committee,  with  its  proper  officers,  to  carry  on  this  work,  and  that  the  char- 
acter and  functions  of  this  committee  be  comprised  in  the  following  articles 
as  its  constitution,  viz.  : 


34o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


Article  I.  This  committee  shall  be  known  as  the  Executive  Committee 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of 
America.  It  shall  consist  of  a  secretary,  who  shall  be  styled  the  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Missions,  and  who  shall  be  the  committee's  organ  of  communication 
with  the  Assembly  and  with  all  portions  of  the  work  intrusted  to  this  com- 
mittee ;  a  treasurer  and  nine  other  members,  three  of  whom,  at  least,  shall 
be  ruling  elders  or  deacons,  or  private  members  of  the  church,  all  appointed 
annually  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  shall  be  directly  amenable  to  it  for 
the  faithful  and  efficient  discharge  of  the  duties  intrusted  to  its  care.  Vacan- 
cies occurring  ad  interim  it  shall  fill  if  necessary. 

Art.  II.  It  shall  meet  once  a  month,  or  oftener,  if  necessary,  at  the  call 
of  the  chairman  or  secretary.  It  may  enact  by-laws  for  its  government,  the 
same  being  subject  to  the  revision  and  approval  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Art.  III.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  take  direc- 
tion and  control  of  the  foreign  missionary  work,  subject  to  such  instructions 
as  may  be  given  by  the  General  Assembly  from  time  to  time ;  to  appoint 
missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries  ;  to  designate  their  field  of  labor,  and 
provide  for  their  support ;  to  receive  the  reports  of  the  secretary  and  treas- 
urer, and  give  such  directions  in  relation  to  their  respective  duties  as  may 
seem  necessary ;  to  authorize  appropriations  and  expenditures  of  money,  in- 
cluding the  salaries  of  officers  ;  to  communicate  to  the  churches  from  time  to 
time  such  information  about  the  missionary  work  as  may  seem  important  to 
be  known  ;  and  to  lay  before  the  General  Assembly  from  year  to  year  a  full 
report  of  the  work  and  of  their  receipts  and  expenditures,  together  with  their 
books  of  minutes  for  examination.1 

The  cumbrous  and  Scripturally  unwarranted  machinery 
of  boards,  as  well  as  voluntary  societies,  is  done  away  with. 
The  fifth  wheel  of  the  chariot  is  cast  aside ;  a  simple  com- 
mittee, directly  and  immediately  responsible  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  as  the  Assembly's  executive  agent,  does 
the  work  which  had  in  the  Old  Assembly  been  done  at 
one  time  by  voluntary  societies,  and  later  by  largely  ir- 
responsible boards.  The  Assembly  had  quietly  made  a 
long  stride  toward  a  more  Scriptural  form. 

The  Southern  Assembly  of  1861  did  much  more  than 
to  frame  a  good  agency  for  conducting  foreign  missions. 
It  betrayed  a  glorious  missionary  zeal.  The  new  church 
had  in  its  heart  the  Saviour's  last  command  to  the  nascent 

1  "Minutes  of  the  General  Assembl),"  1861,  p.  15. 


MISSIONS  AMONG  771  E  INDIANS. 


341 


church  of  the  Apostles.  Already,  during  the  summer  of 
1 86 1  and  before  the  Atlanta  Convention,  Dr.  J.  Leighton 
Wilson  and  other  brethren  in  Columbia,  S.  C,  had  called 
the  attention  of  the  church  throughout  the  Confederacy 
to  the  demands  of  the  Presbyterian  missions  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Indian  Territory,  and  had  raised  and  dis- 
persed about  four  thousand  dollars.  After  the  convention 
Dr.  Wilson,  with  its  indorsement,  continued  his  efforts  to 
support  these  missions,  and  also  made  a  personal  visit  to 
that  interesting  but  perturbed  field.  When  the  Assembly 
at  Augusta  met  about  twenty  thousand  dollars  had  been 
expended  in  the  support  of  the  mission  since  May  by  the 
Southern  Presbyterians.  Dr.  Wilson  read  a  report  of  his 
work  as  provisional  secretary.  On  occasion  of  that  report 
the  Assembly  passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  the  follow- 
ing excerpt  from  which  will  at  once  interest  the  reader 
and  enlighten  him  further  as  to  the  aims  of  the  new-born 
church  toward  missions : 

Resolved,  2.  That  the  Assembly  accepts,  with  joyful  gratitude  to  God,  the 
"care  of  these  missions  among  our  southwestern  Indian  tribes,  the  Choctaws, 
Chickasaws,  Creeks,  Seminoles,  and  Cherokees,  thus  thrown  upon  them  by 
his  providence :  missions  whose  whole  history  has  been  signalized  by  a  de- 
gree of  success  attending  few  other  modern  missions  ;  to  a  people  comprising 
near  seventy  thousand  souls,  to  whom  we  are  bound  by  obligations  of  special 
tenderness  and  strength,  and  whose  spiritual  interest  must  ever  be  dear  to  the 
Christians  of  this  land.  .  .  .  And  the  Assembly  assures  those  people,  and  the 
beloved  missionaries  who  have  so  long  and  successfully  labored  among  them, 
of  our  fixed  purpose,  under  God,  to  sustain  and  carry  forward  the  blessed 
work,  whose  foundations  have  been  so  nobly  and  deeply  laid.  We  therefore 
decidedly  approve  of  the  recommendation  of  the  report,  that  six  new  mission- 
aries be  sent  to  this  field  speedily,  two  of  them  to  commence  a  new  mission 
among  the  Cherokees,  and  that  a  few  small  boarding-schools  be  established 
with  the  special  design  of  raising  up  a  native  agency. 

3.  That  in  the  striking  fact  that  the  same  upheaving  and  overturning  that 
have  called  us  into  existence  as  a  distinct  organization,  and  shut  us  out  from 
present  access  to  distant  nations,  have  also  laid  thus  upon  our  hearts  and  hands 
these  interesting  missions,  with  their  fifteen  stations  and  twelve  ordained 
missionaries  and  sixteen  hundred  communicants,  so  that,  at  the  very  moment 


342 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  II. 


of  commencing  our  separate  existence,  we  find  them  forming  in  fact  an  or- 
ganic part  of  our  body ;  and  also  in  the  gratifying  promptitude  with  which 
our  church  has  advanced  to  their  support — the  Assembly  recognizes  most 
gratefully  the  clear  foreshadowing  of  the  divine  purpose  to  make  our  beloved 
church  an  eminently  missionary  church,  and  a  heart-stirring  call  upon  all  her 
people  to  engage  in  this  blessed  work  with  new  zeal  and  self-denial. 

4.  The  Assembly  further  rejoices  to  know  that  there  are  a  few  of  the  sons 
of  our  Southern  Zion  who  are  laboring  in  distant  lands,  and  approves  heartily 
of  the  action  of  the  committee  in  forwarding  funds  for  the  support  of  the 
missions  in  which  they  are  engaged,  trusting  that  the  committee  to  be  ap- 
pointed will,  as  soon  as  possible,  ascertain  the  facts  on  the  subject  necessary 
to  their  future  guidance ;  and  takes  this  occasion,  hence,  to  direct  the  longing 
eyes  of  the  whole  church  to  those  broad  fields  where  Satan  reigns  almost 
undisturbed — to  India,  Siam,  China,  Japan,  and  especially  to  Africa  and 
South  America,  which  have  peculiar  claims  upon  us,  as  fields  where  we  are 
soon  to  be  called  to  win  glorious  victories  for  our  King,  if  we  prove  faithful ; 
and  solemnly  charges  them  that  now  while  in  the  convulsions  that  are  shak- 
ing the  earth  we  hear  the  tread  of  his  coming  footsteps,  to  take  the  kingdom 
bought  with  his  blood,  they  should  be  preparing  to  meet  him  with  their  whole 
hearts  and  their  largest  offerings. 

5.  Finally,  the  General  Assembly  desires  distinctly  and  deliberately  to 
inscribe  on  our  church's  banner,  as  she  now  first  unfurls  it  to  the  world,  in 
immediate  connection  with  the  headship  of  our  Lord,  his  last  command:  "Go 
ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature;  "  regarding 
this  ;-.s  the  great  end  of  her  organization,  and  obedience  to  it  as  the  indis- 
pensable condition  of  her  Lord's  promised  presence,  and  as  one  great  compre- 
hensive object,  a  proper  conception  of  whose  vast  magnitude  and  grandeur 
is  the  only  thing  which,  in  connection  with  the  love  of  Christ,  can  ever 
sufficiently  arouse  her  energies  and  develop  her  resources  so  as  to  cause  her 
to  carry  on,  with  the  vigor  and  efficiency  which  true  fealty  to  her  Lord  de- 
mands, those  other  agencies  necessary  to  her  internal  growth  and  home 
prosperity.  The  claims  of  this  cause  ought  therefore  to  be  kept  constantly 
before  the  minds  of  the  people  and  pressed  upon  their  consciences.  The 
ministers  and  ruling  elders  and  deacons  and  Sabbath-school  teachers,  and 
especially  the  parents,  ought,  and  are  enjoined  by  the  Assembly,  to  give  par- 
ticular attention  to  all  those  for  whose  religious  teaching  they  are  responsible, 
in  training  them  to  feel  a  deep  interest  in  this  work,  to  form  habits  of  syste- 
matic benevolence,  and  to  feel  and  respond  to  the  claims  of  Jesus  upon  them 
for  personal  service  in  the  field.1 

Such  are  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Augusta  As- 
sembly, as  expressing  its  attitude  toward  foreign  missions. 
There  is  an  exalted  heroism  in  them,  a  sublimity  of  faith 
1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1861,"  pp.  16,  17. 


COMMITTEE  OF  DOMESTIC  MISSIONS.  343 


to  which  history  furnishes  few  parallels.  Surrounded  by 
"  a  cordon  of  armies,"  in  a  country  itself  on  the  point  of 
being  one  of  the  world's  theaters  of  most  terrific  war,  the 
church  quietly  looks  forth  on  the  world  .as  its  field,  and 
quietly,  fearlessly,  and  earnestly  prepares  for  its  present 
and  its  future  labors.  Sacred  Writ  tells  us  that  in  the 
time  of  Zedekiah,  when  the  Babylonian  army  was  besieg- 
ing Jerusalem  and  on  the  point  of  taking  it,  Jeremiah, 
having  been  shut  up  in  prison  for  having  predicted  the 
city's  overthrow,  said :  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came 
unto  me,  saying,  Buy  the  field  that  is  in  Anathoth,  for 
the  right  of  redemption  is  thine  to  buy  it;  "  Jeremiah 
bought  the  field  and  weighed  out  the  money,  seventeen 
shekels  of  silver.  His  heroism  was  mightier  than  that 
of  kings.  His  faith  assured  him  that  there  was  light  be- 
yond the  clouds.  This  church  in  vision  pierces  the  con- 
fines and  the  gloom  of  war;  and,  true  to  the  principles 
which  God  had  given  her  grace  to  see,  prepares  for  their 
exemplification  as  God  shall  give  her  opportunity. 

The  Assembly's  work  relating  to  home  missions  is  of  a 
piece  with  that  concerning  foreign  missions.  The  con- 
stitution of  the  "  Executive  Committee  of  Domestic  Mis- 
sions," as  it  was  called,  is  mutatis  mutandis  altogether 
"  similar  in  its  provisions  to  that  adopted  for  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  Foreign  Missions"1  save  in  one  impor- 
tant particular,  to  which  we  will  subsequently  return. 

The  work  of  this  committee  had  been  carried  on  dur- 
ing the  interregnum  by  the  Southwestern  Advisory  Com- 
mittee. The  Advisory  Committee  had  been  created  by 
an  order  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1859,  and  had  gone 
into  active  operation  in  November  of  that  year.  It  had 
presented  two  annual  reports  to  the  Old  Assembly, 
through  the  parent  board.  On  March  1,  1 86 1,  it  had  a 
1  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  127. 


344 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTER! A XS.       [Chap,  il 


balance  in  its  treasury  of  $7729.55  ;  it  had  received  be- 
tween March  and  November  $4490.37,  having  thus,  dur- 
ing those  eight  months,  $12,219.92.  About  forty  mis- 
sionaries were,  on  November  1st,  in  commission,  which 
was  about  the  number  in  commission  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Philadelphia  Assembly.  Through  the  good  provi- 
dence of  the  blessed  Master  and  Head,  amidst  the  terrible 
convulsions  of  the  times  the  work  of  missions  had  moved 
on  without  a  jar.  One  cannot  "  fail  to  notice  the  wonder- 
ful manner  in  which  God  prepared  and  equipped  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  storm,"  "  in  the 
creation  of  this  agency,  without  which  domestic  mis- 
sions upon  her  extended  frontier  must  have  been  brought 
abruptly  to  a  close,  and  many  faithful  laborers,  without  a 
warning,  cast  loose  upon  the  world,  without  visible  pros- 
pect of  support  for  themselves  and  their  families."1  This 
committee  surrendered  its  trusts  to  the  Assembly's  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  Domestic  Missions,  according  to  its  own 
proffer  and  the  Assembly's  action. 

For  the  time  being  the  Assembly  enlarged  the  number 
of  duties  to  be  rendered  by  the  Committee  of  Domestic 
Missions.  In  framing  the  constitution  of  this  committee, 
the  Assembly  had  passed  one  more  resolution  than  in  that 
of  Foreign  Missions — a  resolution  commending  to  its  par- 
ticular attention  a  special  class  of  the  greater  class  of  peo- 
ple for  whom  the  committee  must  labor.  The  Assembly 
had  resolved : 

That  the  great  field  of  missionary  operation  among  our  colored  population 
falls  more  immediately  under  the  care  of  the  Committee  of  Domestic  Mis- 
sions ;  and  that  the  committee  be  urged  to  give  it  serious  and  constant  atten- 
tion, and  the  Presbyteries  to  cooperate  with  the  committee  in  securing  pastors 
and  missionaries  for  this  field.2 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  186 1,"  pp.  49,  50. 

2  !bid. ,  p.  20. 


OTHER  COMMITTEES  ORGANIZED.  345 


Two  days  later  the  Assembly  resolved : 

That  in  view  of  the  service  rendered  by  the  action  of  the  Church  Extension 
Committee,  as  organized  under  the  Old  Assembly,  and  the  importance  of 
continuing  to  extend  aid  to  the  feeble  churches  in  the  erection  of  church 
edifices,  the  duties  of  that  committee  be  put  in  charge  of  the  Committee  of 
Domestic  Missions,  until  otherwise  ordered  by  the  General  Assembly.1 

The  reader  of  history  has  remarked  over  and  over  that 
a  time  of  war  is  a  time  unfavorable  to  religious  living  and 
achievement.  The  reader  of  the  church  records  in  the 
South,  1861-65,  is  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  though 
stout  defenders  of  their  political  principles,  they  were 
stouter  still  in  defensive  and  offensive  Christian  warfare. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  Education  was  also  con- 
stituted by  our  Assembly.  It  solemnly  reaffirmed  "  the 
deliverances  made  in  its  former  connection  concerning  the 
responsibility  that  rests  on  the  church  to  secure  and  main- 
tain for  itself  a  pious,  gifted,  and  learned  ministry."  It 
appointed  an  executive  committee  to  aid  candidates  for 
the  gospel  ministry  who  needed  assistance,  and  formed  a 
constitution  for  said  committee.  Its  constitution  was  as 
nearly  like  those  which  have  already  been  illustrated  as 
its  nature  and  ends  allowed. 

An  Executive  Committee  of  Publication,  also  with  a 
constitution,  the  exact  analogue  of  those  of  the  other 
agencies,  was  constituted.  Important  as  this  branch  of 
church  work  is,  as  the  nature  of  the  work  is  so  well 
known  it  will  not  prove  interesting  or  instructive  to  dwell 
longer  upon  it. 

The  following  mode  of  electing  these  several  committees 
was  determined  upon  by  the  Assembly : 

1.  The  Assembly's  standing  committees  shall,  on  making  their  respective 
reports,  present  nominations  for  the  members  and  officers  of  their  respective 
executive  committees  for  the  ensuing  year. 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1861,  p.  35. 


346 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  ii. 


2.  The  presentations  of  these  respective  nominations  shall  not  preclude 
any  additional  nominations  which  any  member  of  the  Assembly  may  choose 
to  make. 

3.  The  election  of  said  committee  shall  not  take  place  until  at  least  one  day 
after  the  nominations  are  made. 

4.  In  all  cases  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  Assembly  shall  be  necessary 
to  an  election.1 

Thus  the  Assembly  kept  its  own  hand  on  the  helm  of 
all  its  great  enterprises.  It  had  no  irresponsible  societies 
to  do  its  work,  no  barely  responsible  boards. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  scenes  in  this  Assembly 
was  witnessed  on  the  discussion  of  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  "  The  Propriety  of  Securing  a  Charter  for  the 
Assembly."  This  report  contained  the  draft  of  a  bill  to 
incorporate  the  trustees  of  the  General  Assembly.  The 
peculiar  feature  of  this  instrument  is  contained  in  its  fourth 
section,  which  reads  as  follows : 

Be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America  shall  establish  any  com- 
mittees, agencies,  or  boards,  for  the  purposes  of  education,  publication, 
foreign  and  domestic  missions,  church  extension,  or  any  other  committees, 
agencies,  or  boards  connected  with  the  benevolent  purposes  and  operations 
of  the  said  Assembly,  any  of  the  said  committees,  agencies,  or  boards  shall 
be  held  and  deemed  to  be  branches  of  this  corporation  ;  subject  always  to  the 
review,  control,  and  power  of  the  said  General  Assembly  ;  and  when  any 
gift,  conveyance,  or  transfer  of  estate  in  any  wise,  any  devise,  or  bequest 
shall  be  made  to  "  the  trustees  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America,"  for  either  of  the  committees, 
agencies,  or  boards  of  the  General  Assembly,  it  shall  be  good  and  effectual 
to  transfer  the  estate,  property,  or  thing  in  as  full  and  as  perfect  a  manner  as 
if  the  said  committee,  agency,  or  board  had  been  especially  incorporated  with 
powers  to  take  and  to  hold  the  same,  and  no  misnomer  or  misconception  of 
the  said  corporation  shall  defeat  any  gift,  grant,  devise,  or  bequest  to  the 
corporation,  wherever  the  interest  shall  appear  sufficiently  upon  the  face  of 
the  gift,  grant,  devise,  or  bequest.2 

The  aim  in  this  was  11  to  keep  our  boards  or  committees 
dependent  upon  and  responsible  to  the  General  Assembly  ; 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1S61,  p.  22. 

2  Ibid.,  1 86 1,  pp.  31-33- 


"ADDRESS  TO  THE  CHURCHES:' 


347 


to  have  an  organization  broad  enough  to  embrace  all  our 
undertakings ;  to  keep  them  so  bound  together  that  the 
Creator  may  be  above  the  creature;  to  have  the  church 
present  the' view  of  the  vine  and  the  branches."1 

This  paper,  though  scrutinized  with  the  keenest  insight 
and  amended  before  its  final  adoption,  was  received  with 
the  greatest  satisfaction.  It  was  felt  that  the  biblical 
idea  of  polity  was  being  further  approximated.  This  bill 
was  never  enacted,  but  in  substance  was  wrought  into 
the  charter  of  1866,  granted  by  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina. But  the  high- water  mark  of  interest  was  reached  as 
early  as  the  first  Saturday,  in  the  hearing  of  the  "Address 
to  the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  Earth," 
prepared  by  the  committee  of  which  Dr.  J.  H.  Thornwell 
was  the  chairman.  In  this  letter  the  church  was  trying  to 
let  the  world  look  on  its  orientation.  It  aimed  to  show 
the  other  churches  its  own  raison  de  etre,  and  its  aims 
toward  God  and  man.  It  is  a  paper  of  which  any  church 
might  be  proud.  As  we  reread  it,  again  and  again  re- 
marking its  luminous  precision  of  thought  and  language, 
its  broad  and  deep  charity  for  all  the  Lord's  own,  and  the 
profoundly  sanctified  spirit  that  runs  through  it  all,  the 
impression  comes  with  increasing  strength  that  in  that 
single  paper  is  enough  to  justify  the  separate  existence  of 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  '  The  church  is  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth  or  nothing.  It  is  to  be 
doubted  whether  any  other  church  in  existence  was  more 
capable  of  setting  forth  the  truth  on  the  questions  in  de- 
bate than  this  church  showed  itself  in  that  letter.  Such 
a  document  should  be  read  by  every  student  who  would 
know  the  origin  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  South.  Our 
limits  admit  only  of  some  excerpts,  which,  however,  have 
been  so  selected  as  to  give  a  fair  notion  of  the  address  as 
1  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  1861,  pp.  31-35. 


348 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap,  il 


a  whole,  so  far  as  such  a  thing  can  be  done.  They  are  as 
follows : 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate  States 
of  America  to  all  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  earth, 
greeting:  grace,  mercy,  and  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you. 

Dearly  beloved  Brethren:  It  is  probably  known  to  you  that  the 
Presbyteries  and  Synods  in  the  Confederate  States,  which  were  formerly 
in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  have  renounced  the  jurisdiction  of  that  body,  and 
dissolved  the  ties  which  bound  them  ecclesiastically  with  their  brethren  of  the 
North.  This  act  of  separation  left  them  without  any  formal  union  among 
themselves.  But  as  they  are  one  in  faith  and  order,  and  still  adhere  to  their 
old  standards,  measures  were  promptly  adopted  for  giving  expression  to  their 
unity,  by  the  organization  of  a  supreme  court,  upon  the  model  of  the  one 
whose  authority  they  had  just  relinquished.  Commissioners,  duly  appointed, 
from  all  the  Presbyteries  of  these  Confederate  States,  met  accordingly,  in  the 
city  of  Augusta,  on  the  fourth  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  then  and  there  proceeded  to  con- 
stitute the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America.  .  .  . 

In  thus  taking  its  place  among  sister  churches  of  this  and  other  countries, 
it  seems  proper  that  it  should  set  forth  the  causes  which  have  impelled  it  to 
separate  from  the  church  of  the  North,  and  to  indicate  a  general  view  of  the 
course  which  it  feels  it  incumbent  upon  it  to  pursue  in  the  new  circumstances 
in  which  it  is  placed. 

We  should  be  sorry  to  be  regarded  by  our  brethren  in  any  part  of  the 
world  as  guilty  of  schism.  We  are  not  conscious  of  any  purpose  to  rend  the 
body  of  Christ.  .  .  . 

We  have  separated  from  our  brethren  of  the  North  as  Abraham  separated 
from  Lot — because  we  are  persuaded  that  the  interests  of  true  religion  will 
be  more  effectually  subserVed  by  two  independent  churches,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  two  countries  are  placed,  than  by  one  united  body. 

i.  In  the  first  place,  the  course  of  the  last  Assembly,  at  Philadelphia, 
conclusively  shows  that  if  we  should  remain  together  the  political  questions 
which  divide  us  as  citizens  will  be  obtruded  on  our  church  courts,  and  dis- 
cussed by  Christian  ministers  and  elders  with  all  the  acrimony,  bitterness, 
and  rancor  with  which  such  questions  are  usually  discussed  by  men  of  the 
world.  Our  Assembly  would  present  a  mournful  spectacle  of  strife  and  de- 
bate. .  .  . 

Two  nations,  under  any  circumstances  except  those  of  perfect  homogeneous- 
ness,  cannot  be  united  in  one  church  without  the  rigid  exclusion  of  all  civil 
and  secular  questions  from  its  halls.  Where  the  countries  differ  in  their 
customs  and  institutions,  and  view  each  other  with  an  eye  of  jealousy  and 


SEPARA  TION  DEFENDED. 


349 


rivalry,  if  national  feelings  are  permitted  to  enter  the  church  courts  there 
must  be  an  end  of  harmony  and  peace.  .  .  .  An  Assembly  composed  of 
representatives  from  two  such  countries  could  have  no  security  for  peace 
except  in  a  steady,  uncompromising  adherence  to  the  Scriptural  principle, 
that  it  would  know  no  man  after  the  flesh ;  that  it  would  abolish  the  dis- 
tinctions of  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free,  and  recognize  nothing  but  the 
new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  .  .  . 

The  only  conceivable  condition,  therefore,  upon  which  the  church  of  the 
North  and  of  the  South  could  remain  together  as  one  body,  with  any  pros- 
pect of  success,  is  the  rigorous  exclusion  of  the  questions  and  passions  of 
the  forum  from  its  halls  of  debate.  This  is  what  always  ought  to  be  done. 
The  provinces  of  church  and  state  are  perfectly  distinct,  and  one  has  no  right 
to  usurp  the  jurisdiction  of  the  other.  The  state  is  a  natural  institute,  founded 
in  the  constitution  of  man  as  moral  and  social,  and  designed  to  realize  the 
idea  of  justice.  It  is  the  society  of  rights.  The  church  is  *  supernatural 
institute,  founded  in  the  facts  of  redemption,  and  is  designed  to  realize  the 
idea  of  grace.  It  is  the  society  of  the  redeemed.  The  state  aims  at  social 
order;  the  church,  at  spiritual  holiness.  The  state  looks  to  the  visible  and 
outward;  the  church  is  concerned  for  the  invisible  and  inward.  The  badge 
of  the  state:s  authority  is  the  sword,  by  which  it  becomes  a  terror  to  evil- 
doers, and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well ;  the  badge  of  the  church  is  the  keys 
by  which  it  opens  and  shuts  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  according  as  men  are 
believing  or  impenitent.  The  power  of  the  church  is  exclusively  spiritual ; 
that  of  the  state  includes  the  exercise  of  force.  The  constitution  of  the  church 
is  a  divine  revelation ;  the  constitution  of  the  state  must  be  determined  by 
human  reason  and  the  course  of  providential  events.  The  church  has  no 
right  to  construct  or  modify  a  government  for  the  state,  and  the  state  has  no 
right  to  frame  a  creed  or  polity  for  the  church.  They  are  as  planets  moving 
in  different  orbits,  and  unless  each  is  confined  to  its  own  track,  the  conse- 
quences may  be  as  disastrous  in  the  moral  world  as  collision  of  different 
spheres  in  the  world  of  matter.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a  point  at  which  their 
respective  jurisdictions  seem  to  meet — in  the  idea  of  duty.  But  even  duty  is 
viewed  by  each  in  very  different  lights.  The  church  enjoins  it  as  obedience 
to  God,  and  the  state  enforces  it  as  safeguard  of  order.  But  there  can  be  no 
collision  unless  one  or  the  other  blunders  as  to  the  things  that  are  materially 
right.  When  the  state  makes  wicked  laws  contradicting  the  eternal  principles 
of  rectitude,  the  church  is  at  liberty  to  testify  against  them,  and  humbly  peti- 
tion that  they  may  be  repealed.  In  like  manner,  if  the  church  becomes  sedi- 
tious and  a  disturber  of  the  peace  the  state  has  a  right  to  abate  the  nuisance. 
In  ordinary  cases,  however,  there  is  not  likely  to  be  a  collision.  Among  a 
Christian  people  there  is  little  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  radical  distinc- 
tions of  right  and  wrong.  The  only  serious  danger  is  where  moral  duty  is 
conditioned  upon  a  political  question.  Under  the  pretext  of  inculcating  duty, 
the  church  may  usurp  the  power  to  determine  the  question  which  conditions 
it,  and  that  is  precisely  what  she  is  debarred  from  doing.    The  condition 


35o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chai\  n. 


must  be  given.  She  must  accept  it  from  the  state,  and  then  her  own  course 
is  clear.  If  Caesar  is  your  master,  then  pay  tribute  to  him  ;  but  whether  the 
if  holds — whether  Caesar  is  your  master  or  not,  whether  he  ever  had  any 
just  authority,  whether  he  now  retains  it  or  has  forfeited  it — these  are  points 
which  the  church  has  no  commission  to  adjudicate. 

It  was  ardently  desired  that  the  sublime  spectacle  might  be  presented  of 
one  church  upon  earth  combining  in  cordial  fellowship  and  holy  love — the 
disciples  of  Jesus  in  different  and  even  hostile  lands.  But  alas  for  the  weak- 
ness of  man!  these  golden  visions  were  soon  dispelled.  The  first  thing 
which  roused  our  Presbyteries  to  look  the  question  of  separation  seriously  in 
the  face  was  the  course  of  the  Assembly  in  venturing  to  determine,  as  a  court 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  it  did  by  necessary  implication,  the  true  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  to  the  kind  of  government  it 
intended  to  form.  A  political  theory  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  pro- 
pounded which  made  secession  a  crime,  the  seceding  States  rebellious,  and 
the  citizens  who  obeyed  them  traitors.  We  say  nothing  here  as  to  the  right- 
eousness or  unrighteousness  of  these  decrees.  What  we  maintain  is,  that, 
whether  right  or  wrong,  the  church  had  no  right  to  make  them — she  tran- 
scended her  sphere,  and  usurped  the  duties  of  the  state.  .  .  . 

We  frankly  admit  that  the  mere  unconstitutionality  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  last  Assembly  is  not,  in  itself  considered,  a  sufficient  ground  of  separa- 
tion. It  is  the  consequence  of  these  proceedings  which  makes  them  so  offen- 
sive. It  is  the  door  which  they  open  for  the  worst  passions  of  human  nature 
in  the  deliberation  of  church  courts.  .  .  .  For  the  sake  of  peace,  therefore, 
for  Christian  charity,  for  the  honor  of  the  church,  and  for  the  glory  of  God, 
we  have  been  constrained,  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  to  remove  all  occasion  of 
offense.  We  have  quietly  separated,  and  we  are  grateful  to  God  that,  while 
leaving  for  the  sake  of  peace,  we  leave  it  with  the  humble  consciousness  that 
we  ourselves  have  never  given  occasion  to  break  the  peace.  We  have  never 
confounded  Caesar  and  Christ;  we  have  never  mixed  the  issues  of  this  world 
with  the  weighty  matters  that  properly  belong  to  us  as  citizens  of  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

2.  Though  the  immediate  occasion  of  separation  was  the  course  of  the 
General  Assembly  at  Philadelphia  in  relation  to  the  Federal  Government  and 
the  war,  yet  there  is  another  ground  on  which  the  independent  organization 
of  the  Southern  Church  can  be  amply  and  Scripturally  maintained. 

If  it  is  desirable  that  each  nation  should  contain  a  separate  and  independent 
church,  the  Presbyteries  of  the  Confederate  States  need  no  apology  for  bow- 
ing to  the  decree  of  Providence,  which  in  withdrawing  their  country  from  the 
government  of  the  United  States  has  at  the  same  time  determined  that  they 
should  withdraw  from  the  church  of  their  fathers.  It  is  not  that  they  have 
ceased  to  love,  not  that  they  have  abjured  its  ancient  principles,  or  forgotten 
its  glorious  history.  .  .  . 

The  antagonism  of  Northern  and  Southern  sentiments  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  difficulties  which  have  resulted  in  the 


THE  SUBJECT  OF  SLAVERY. 


351 


dismemberment  of  the  Federal  Union  and  involved  us  in  the  horrors  of  an 
unnatural  war.  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  has  been  en- 
abled by  the  divine  grace  to  pursue,  for  the  most  part,  an  eminently  con- 
servative, because  a  thoroughly  Scriptural,  policy  in  relation  to  this  delicate 
question.  It  has  planted  itself  upon  the  Word  of  God,  and  utterly  refused 
to  make  slaveholding  a  sin,  or  non-slaveholding  a  term  of  communion.  But 
though  both  sections  are  agreed  as  to  this  general  principle,  it  is  not  to  be 
disguised  that  the  North  exercises  a  deep  and  settled  antipathy  to  slavery 
itself,  while  the  South  is  equally  zealous  in  its  defense.  Recent  events  can 
have  no  other  effect  than  to  confirm  the  antipathy  on  one  hand,  and  to 
strengthen  the  attachment  on  the  other.  .  .  . 

And  here  we  may  venture  to  lay  before  the  Christian  world  our  views  as  a 
church  upon  the  subject  of  slavery.  We  beg  a  candid  hearing.  In  the  first 
place,  we  would  have  it  distinctly  understood  that,  in  our  ecclesiastical  capac- 
ity, we  are  neither  the  friends  nor  the  foes  of  slavery — that  is  to  say,  we  have 
no  commission  either  to  propagate  or  abolish  it.  The  policy  of  its  existence 
or  non-existence  is  a  question  which  exclusively  belongs  to  the  state.  We 
have  no  right,  as  a  church,  to  enjoin  it  as  a  duty  or  condemn  it  as  a  sin.  Our 
business  is  with  the  duties  that  spring  from  the  relations — the  duties  of  the 
master  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  slave  on  the  other.  These  duties  we  are 
to  proclaim  and  enforce  with  spiritual  sanctions.  The  social,  civil,  political 
problems  connected  with  this  great  subject  transcend  our  sphere,  as  God  has 
not  intrusted  to  his  church  the  organization  of  society,  the  construction  of 
governments,  nor  the  allotment  of  individuals  to  their  various  stations.  The 
church  has  as  much  right  to  preach  to  the  monarchies  of  Europe  and  the 
despotisms  of  Asia  the  doctrines  of  republican  equality,  as  to  preach  to  the 
government  of  the  South  the  extirpation  of  slavery.  This  position  is  im- 
pregnable, unless  it  can  be  shown  that  slavery  is  a  sin.  Upon  every  other 
hypothesis,  it  is  so  clearly  a  question  for  the  state  that  the  proposition  would 
never  for  a  moment  have  been  doubted  had  there  not  been  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion in  relation  to  its  moral  character.    Is  slavery,  then,  a  sin? 

In  answering  this  question,  as  a  church,  let  it  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind 
that  the  only  rule  of  judgment  is  the  written  Word  of  God.  The  church 
knows  nothing  of  the  intuitions  of  reason,  or  the  deductions  of  philosophy, 
except  those  reproduced  in  the  sacred  canon.  She  has  a  positive  constitution 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  has  no  right  to  utter  a  single  syllable  upon  any 
subject,  except  as  the  Lord  puts  it  into  her  mouth.  She  is  founded,  in  other 
words,  on  express  revelation.  The  question,  then,  is  brought  within  a  narrow 
compass  :  Do  the  Scriptures,  directly  or  indirectly,  condemn  slavery  as  a  sin? 
If  they  do  not,  the  dispute  is  ended,  for  the  church,  without  forfeiting  her 
character,  dares  not  go  beyond  them.  Now,  we  venture  to  assert  that  if  men 
had  drawn  their  conclusions  upon  the  subject  only  from  the  Bible,  it  would 
no  more  have  entered  into  any  human  head  to  denounce  slavery  as  a  sin,  than 
to  denounce  monarchy,  aristocracy,  or  poverty.  The  truth  is,  men  have 
listened  to  what  they  falsely  considered  as  primitive  intuitions,  or  as  necessary 


352 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  n. 


deductions  from  primitive  cognitions,  and  then  have  gone  to  the  Bible  to 
confirm  the  crotchets  of  their  vain  philosophy. 

We  have  assumed  no  new  attitude.  We  stand  where  the  Church  of  God 
lias  always  stood,  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to  Christ,  from 
Christ  to  the  Reformers,  and  from  the  Reformers  to  ourselves.  We  stand 
upon  the  foundation  of  the  prophets  and  apostles,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  cornerstone.  Shall  we  be  excluded  from  the  fellowship  of  our 
brethren  in  other  lands  because  we  dare  not  depart  from  the  Charter  of  our 
faith?  Shall  we  be  branded  with  the  stigma  of  reproach  because  we  cannot 
consent  to  corrupt  the  Word  of  God  to  suit  the  intuition  of  an  infidel  philos- 
ophy? Shall  our  names  be  pointed  out  as  evil  and  the  finger  of  scorn  be 
pointed  at  us  because  we  utterly  refuse  to  break  our  communion  with  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob,  with  Moses,  David,  and  Isaiah,  with  apostles,  proph- 
ets, and  martyrs,  with  all  the  noble  army  of  confessors  who  have  gone  to 
glory  from  slaveholding  countries  and  from  a  slaveholding  church  without 
ever  dreaming  that  they  had  lived  in  mortal  sin  by  conniving  at  slavery  in  the 
midst  of  them?  Others,  if  they  please,  may  spend  their  time  in  declaiming 
on  the  tyranny  of  earthly  masters  ;  it  will  be  our  aim  to  resist  the  real  tyrants 
which  oppress  the  soul — Sin  and  Satan.  These  are  the  foes  against  whom 
we  shall  find  it  employment  enough  to  wage  a  successful  war — and  to  this 
holy  war  it  is  the  purpose  of  our  church  to  devote  itself  with  redoubled  energy. 
We  feel  that  the  souls  of  our  slaves  are  a  solemn  trust,  and  we  shall  strive 
to  present  them  faultless  before  the  presence  of  God. 

Indeed,  as  we  contemplate  their  condition  in  the  Southern  States  and  con- 
trast it  with  that  of  their  fathers  before  them,  and  that  of  their  brethren  in 
the  present  day  in  their  native  land,  we  cannot  but  accept  it  as  a  gracious 
Providence  that  they  have  been  brought  in  such  numbers  to  our  shores,  and 
redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  barbarism  and  sin.  Slavery  to  them  has  cer- 
tainly been  overruled  for  the  greatest  good.  .  .  . 

As  to  the  endless  declamations  about  human  rights,  we  have  only  to  say 
that  human  rights  are  not  a  fixed,  but  a  fluctuating  quantity.  Their  sum  is 
not  the  same  in  any  two  nations  on  the  globe.  The  rights  of  Englishmen 
are  one  thing,  the  rights  of  FVenchmen  another.  There  is  a  minimum  with- 
out which  a  man  cannot  be  responsible ;  there  is  a  maximum  which  expresses 
the  highest  degree  of  civilization  and  of  Christian  culture.  The  education  of 
the  species  consists  in  its  ascent  along  this  line.  Now  when  it  is  said  that 
slavery  is  inconsistent  with  human  rights,  we  crave  to  understand  what  point 
in  this  line  is  the  slave  conceived  to  occupy.  There  are,  no  doubt,  many 
rights  which  belong  to  other  men — to  Englishmen,  to  Frenchmen,  to  his 
master,  for  example — which  are  denied  to  him.  But  is  he  fit  to  possess 
them?  Has  God  qualified  him  to  meet  the  responsibilities  which  their  pos- 
session necessarily  implies?  His  place  in  the  scale  is  determined  by  his 
competency  to  fulfill  its  duties.  There  are  other  rights  which  he  certainly 
possesses,  without  which  he  could  be  neither  human  nor  accountable.  Before 
slavery  tan  be  charged  with  doing  him  injustice  it  must  be  shown  that  the 


THE  ENDS  PROPOSED. 


353 


minimum  which  falls  to  his  lot  at  the  bottom  of  the  line  is  out  of  proportion 
to  his  capacity  and  culture — a  thing  which  can  never  be  done  by  abstract 
speculation. 

To  avoid  the  suspicion  of  conscious  weakness  of  our  cause  when  contem- 
plated from  the  side  of  pure  speculation,  we  advert  for  a  moment  to  those 
pretended  intuitions  which  stamp  the  reprobation  of  humanity  upon  this 
ancient  and  hoary  institution.  We  admit  that  there  are  primitive  principles 
of  morals  which  lie  at  the  root  of  human  consciousness.  But  the  question  is, 
how  are  we  to  distinguish  them?  The  subjective  feeling  of  certainty  is  no 
adequate  criterion,  as  it  is  equally  felt  in  reference  to  crotchets  and  hereditary 
prejudices.  The  very  point  is  to  know  when  this  certainty  indicates  a  prim- 
itive cognition,  and  when  it  does  not.  There  must,  therefore,  be  some  eter- 
nal test,  and  whatever  cannot  abide  that  test  has  no  authority  as  a  primary 
truth.  That  test  is  an  inward  necessity  of  thought,  which  in  all  minds  at  the 
proper  stage  of  maturity  is  absolutely  universal.  Whatever  is  universal  is 
natural.  We  are  willing  that  slavery  should  be  tried  by  this  standard.  We 
are  willing  to  abide  by  the  testimony  of  the  race,  and  if  man,  as  man,  has 
everywhere  condemned  it — if  all  human  laws  have  prohibited  it  as  a  crime — 
if  it  stands  in  the  same  category  with  malice,  murder,  and  theft — then  we  are 
willing,  in  the  name  of  humanity,  to  renounce  it,  and  to  renounce  it  forever. 
But  what  if  the  overwhelming  majority  of  mankind  have  approved  it?  What 
if  philosophers  and  statesmen  have  justified  it,  and  the  laws  of  all  nations 
acknowledged  it — what  then  becomes  of  these  luminous  intuitions?  They 
are  an  ignis  fatuus,  mistaken  for  a  star. 

We  have  now,  brethren,  in  a  brief  compass — for  the  nature  of  this  address 
admits  only  an  outline — opened  to  you  our  whole  hearts  upon  this  delicate 
and  vexed  subject.  We  have  concealed  nothing.  We  have  sought  to  con- 
ciliate no  sympathy  by  appeals  to  your  charity.  We  have  tried  our  cause  by 
the  Word  of  God ;  and  though  protesting  against  its  authority  to  judge  in  a 
question  concerning  the  duty  of  the  church,  we  have  not  refused  to  appear  at 
the  tribunal  of  reason.  Are  we  not  right,  in  view  of  all  the  preceding  con- 
siderations, in  remitting  the  social,  civil,  and  political  problems  connected 
with  slavery  in  the  state? 

The  ends  which  we  propose  to  accomplish  as  a  church  are  the  same  as 
those  which  are  proposed  by  every  other  church.  To  proclaim  God's  truth 
as  a  witness  to  the  nations  ;  to  gather  his  elect  from  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth ;  and,  through  the  Word,  ministries,  and  ordinances,  to  train  them  for 
eternal  life — is  the  great  business  of  his  people.  The  only  thing  that  will  be 
at  all  peculiar  to  us  is  the  manner  in  which  we  shall  attempt  to  discharge  our 
duty.  In  almost  every  department  of  labor,  except  the  pastoral  care  of  con- 
gregations, it  has  been  usual  for  the  church  to  resort  to  societies  more  or  less 
closely  connected  with  itself,  and  yet  logically  and  really  distinct.  It  is  our 
purpose  to  rely  upon  the  regular  organs  of  our  government,  and  executive 
agencies  directly  and  immediately  responsible  to  them.  We  wish  to  make 
the  church  not  merely  a  superintendent,  but  an  agent.    We  wish  to  develop 


354 


THE  SOUTHERN  TKESB  YTERIANS.       [Chap.  11. 


the  idea  that  the  congregation  of  believers,  as  visibly  organized,  is  the  very 
society  or  corporation  which  is  divinely  called  to  do  the  work  of  the  Lord. 
We  shall  therefore  endeavor  to  do  what  has  never  yet  been  adequately  clone 
— bring  out  the  energies  of  our  Presbyterian  system  of  government.  From 
the  session  to  the  Assembly  we  shall  strive  to  enlist  all  of  our  courts,  as 
courts,  in  the  department  of  Christian  effort.  We  are  not  ashamed  to  con- 
fess that  we  are  intensely  Presbyterian.  We  embrace  all  other  denomina- 
tions in  the  .arms  of  Christian  fellowship  and  love,  but  our  own  scheme  of 
government  we  humbly  believe  to  be  according  to  the  pattern  shown  in  the 
mount,  and,  by  God's  grace,  we  propose  to  put  its  efficiency  to  the  test. 

Brethren,  we  have  done.  We  have  told  you  who  we  are,  and  what  we 
are.  We  greet  you  in  the  ties  of  Christian  brotherhood.  We  desire  to  culti- 
vate peace  and  charity  with  all  our  fellow-Christians  throughout  the  world. 
We  invite  to  ecclesiastical  communion  all  who  maintain  our  principles  of  faith 
and  order. 

And  now  we  commend  you  to  God  and  the  Word  of  his  grace.  We  de- 
voutly pray  that  the  whole  Catholic  Church  may  be  afresh  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  that  she  may  be  speedily  stirred  up  to  give  the  Lord  no 
rest  until  he  establish  and  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth.1 

The  scene  "  which  was  enacted  at  the  moment  of  the 
subscription  of  this  letter  will  be  forgotten,"  says  an -elo- 
quent participant,  "  by  none  who  witnessed  it.  Read,  and 
read  again,  amid  the  solemn  stillness  of  an  audience  whose 
emotions  are  hushed  with  awe,  it  was  finally  adopted  and 
laid  on  the  moderator's  table ;  when,  one  by  one,  the 
members  came  silently  forward  and  signed  the  instrument 
with  their  names.  We  were  carried  back  to  those  stirring 
times  in  Scottish  story  when  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant  was  spread  upon  the  gravestones  at  the  Gray 
Friars'  Churchyard,  and  Christian  heroes  pricked  their 
veins,  that  with  the  red  blood  they  might  sign  their  alle- 
giance to  the  kingdom  and  crown  of  Jesus  Christ,  their 
Lord  and  Head."2 

The  Distinctive  Principles  of  the  Church  at  First. — 
We  have  now  passed  in  review  the  more  important  acts 

1  For  this  letter  in  full  see  "  Minutes  of  1861,"  pp.  51-60;  Alexander's 
"  Digest,"  pp.  369-380;  "  Distinctive  Principles,"  pp.  6-25. 

2  Palmer's  "  Life  of  Thornwell,"  p. 


CLERICAL  AND  LAY  LEADERS.  355 

of  the  Constituting  Assembly.  Observing  the  fabric  set 
up  as  a  completed  whole,  we  may  remark  its  distinctive 
principles,  viz.  :  First,  witnessing  for  the  non-secular  * 
character  of  the  church  and  the  headship  of  Christ,  or,  in 
other  words,  for  a  strict  adherence  to  the  constitution. 
This  explains  the  church's  rise.  This  was  the  church's 
great  and  inspiring  mission.  Second,  the  complete  or- 
ganization of  the  church,  obviating  the  necessity  of  boards 
and  societies.  The  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is  one 
of  the  most  completely  organized  of  all  the  churches  of 
God.  The  church  itself  is  its  own  home  missionary 
society,  its  own  foreign  missionary  society,  its  own  educa- 
tion society,  etc.  It  attends  to  the  work  itself  which  God 
gave  it  to  do.  Herein  it  has  been  a  pattern  not  without 
effect  to  other  churches.  The  mother-church  from  which 
the  Southern  Church  came  has  wisely  imitated  to  a  certain 
degree  the  daughter,  in  turning  her  boards  into  virtual 
commissions. 

The  dignity  of  the  constituting  body  of  this  first  Assem- 
bly was  very  great.  The  writer  of  the  "  Address  to  the 
Churches  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  Earth  "  was  the 
luminary  of  the  body — a  mental  and  moral  giant — but 
the  Assembly  was  as  a  whole  an  able  and  godly  body. 
A  glance  at  the  roll  of  commissioners  shows  that  they 
were  no  mean  men.  Running  down  the  roll  of  ministers, 
we  find  the  names  of  Dr.  John  H.  Bocock,  Dr.  Wm.  H. 
Foote,  Dr.  Joseph  R.  Wilson,  Dr.  C.  C.  Jones,  Dr.  John 
N.  Waddel,  Dr.  James  A.  Lyon,  Dr.  Drury  Lacy,  Dr.  R. 
H.  Morrison,  Dr.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  Dr.  John  B.  Adger, 
Dr.  D.  McNeil  Turner,  Dr.  Theodoric  Pryor,  Dr.  Francis 
McFarland,  Dr.  James  B.  Ramsey.  Among  the  elders 
we  note  the  names  of  W.  P.  Webb,  T.  C.  Perrin,  W.  L. 
Mitchell,  Job  Johnston,  J.  G.  Sheppard,  J.  T.  Swayne,  J.  D. 
Armstrong,  Charles  Phillips.    Many  other  names  of  great 


356 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  u. 


dignity  and  reputation  might  have  been  added  to  each  of 
these  lists.  And  these  were  no  more  than  a  fair  sample 
of  the  Southern  Church.  The  Synod  of  Virginia  could 
have  mustered  an  abler  body  than  the  one  we  have  been 
considering. 

Whether  we  look  at  the  causes  of  the  existence  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  South,  at  the  perfection  of  her  or- 
ganization, at  the  orientation  of  herself  in  the  theological 
cosmos,  at  her  distinctive  principles,  or,  in  fine,  at  the  dig- 
nity of  her  members,  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  a  conviction 
of  a  surpassing  excellence  in  her  beginning,  and  prophesy 
thereof  in  her  end. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  HER  AGENCIES  TO  THE  PRESENT. 

We  propose  to  set  forth  in  this  chapter  the  numerical 
increase  of  the  church,  and  to  account  for  the  rapidity  of 
this  increase.  We  shall  also  .illustrate  the  development  of 
the  various  agencies  of  the  church,  including  foreign  mis- 
sions, home  missions  in  its  various  branches,  education, 
and  publication  ;  explaining,  as  we  may  be  able,  the  slow  or 
rapid  progress  of  each  respectively,  and  remarking  on  any 
change  of  attitude  of  any  particular  agency  toward  the 
General  Assembly.  We  shall  then  consider  the  general 
posture  toward  herself  in  which  the  General  Assembly 
holds  the  agencies  in  common.  Finally,  on  the  ground  of 
its  connection  with  our  subject  by  contrast,  we  shall  advert 
to  "  voluntary  societies  "  in  the  church. 

The  Numerical  Increase  of  the  Church. 

In  thirty-two  years,  the  devastation  and  desolation  of 
war  and  "  reconstruction "  to  the  contrary  nevertheless, 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  has  much  more  than 
doubled  itself.  It  has  added  three  to  the  original  number 
of  Synods,  there  being  thirteen  at  present.  The  number 
of  its  Presbyteries  has  gone  up  from  47  to  72,  an  increase 
of  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  original  number.  It 
has  as  many  ministers  as  in  1861,  and  about  eighty  per 
cent,  ntore,  having  now  1270;  as  many  churches  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  per  cent,  more — the  present  number  of 

357 


358 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


churches  is  2652.  There  are  two  and  a  half  times  as 
many  members  as  in  1861,  and  more.  Its  contributions 
to  foreign  missions  and  to  home  missions  are  at  least  four 
times  as  large,  and  it  has  kept  pace  in  developing  the 
other  departments  of  church  enterprise.  The  church  has 
made  this  rapid  advance  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  between 
1866  and  1870  it  suffered  a  great  exodus  of  its  colored 
communicants,  10,000  perhaps,  who  betook  themselves, 
for  the  most  part,  to  the  organizations  which  the  Northern 
Presbyterian  Church  had  begun  to  establish  among  the 
freedmen.  It  has  made  this  growth  in  spite  of  most  ad- 
verse financial  and  political  'conditions,  and  in  a  wide  and 
sparsely  settled  territory,  where  there  were  no  great  cen- 
ters of  population,  and  which  had  suffered  the  spoliation 
of  war.  Few  churches  can  show  an  equal  growth.  It  is 
extraordinary.  It  may  be  justly  claimed  as  one  of  the 
remarkable  phenomena  of  modern  church  history. 

This  growth,  under  the  circumstances,  eloquently  illus- 
trates the  words  of  the  Psalmist  who  cried  out :  "  It  is 
good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted,  that  I  might  learn 
thy  statutes."1 

But  while  acknowledging  the  blessing  of  affliction  rightly 
received,  we  shall  find  it  useful  to  inquire  into  the  several 
proximate  and  specific  causes  of  this  rapid  growth.  These 
causes  seem  to  be : 

First,  the  great  esopliagecil  porrections  of  our  church  in 
the  presence  of  any  ecclesiastical  minnows  which  may  be 
assimilated  into  good  strict  Presbyterians.  The  Presby- 
terian Church,  South,  has  absorbed  into  ecclesiastical  union 
with  herself  a  good  many  smaller  bodies  which  once  occu- 
pied more  or  less  of  her  present  territory,  viz.  :  the  Inde- 
pendent Presbyterian  Church  (1863),  the  United  Synod 
of  the  South  (1864),  the  Presbytery  of  Patapsco  (1867), 

1  Psalm  cxix.  72. 


REVIVAL  METHODS. 


359 


the  Alabama  Presbytery  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church  about  the  same  time,  the  Synod  of  Kentucky 

(1869)  ,  the  Associated  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Kentucky 

(1870)  ,  and  the  Synod  of  Missouri  (1874).  The  union 
with  these  churches  brought  in  about  282  ministers,  490  or 
more  churches,  and  35,600  communicants.  Thus  is  ex- 
plained in  part  the  church's  rapid  growth. 

Second,  the  energetic  use  of  the  evangelistic  arm  of  the 
church's  service.  The  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is 
not  unfrequently  stigmatized  as  "  orthodox."  She  un- 
doubtedly holds  to  a  strong  and  thorough-going  Calvin- 
ism and  to  a  rather  "  high  church  "  Presbyterianism.  In 
the  later  thirties  of  this  century  the  Old  School  party  won 
the  victory  over  the  New  School  only  by  virtue  of  an 
almost  "  solid  South."  And  since  the  division  of  the  Old 
School  in  1 86 1  the  Southern  Church  is  supposed  to  have 
strengthened  in  her  Calvinism,  and  in  her  tendency  to- 
ward a  belief  in  a  jure  divino  form  of  church  govern- 
ment, rather  than  to  have  either  declined  or  stood  still. 
She  does  not  object  to  being  regarded  as  orthodox  in 
the  sense  of  steadfastly  upholding  her  well-known  con- 
stitution. On  the  contrary,  she  delights  in  the  charac- 
terization. 

But  "  orthodoxy  "  and  deadness  of  spiritual  life  have 
often  been  conjoined  in  history — so  often  as  to  have  pro- 
duced the  current  impression  that  one  must  look  for  a 
dead  church  in  one  that  makes  the  claim  of  being  ortho- 
dox. The  impression,  however,  is  very  superficial.  If 
there  is  any  power,  by  its  beauty,  purity,  charm,  and 
magnetism,  in  truth  to  quicken,  attract,  sanctify,  hold, 
and  consecrate,  then  as  "  orthodoxy "  approaches  the 
truth,  contrary  to  this  shallow  supposition  as  to  the  con- 
nection between  "  orthodoxy  "  and  "  deadness,"  we  expect 
the  truly  orthodox  church  to  be  first  in  its  power  to  win 


36o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


to  genuine  Christianity  all  over  whom  the  truth  has  any 
power. 

Whether  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is  truly 
orthodox  it  is  not  our  present  concern  to  settle.  Her 
well-wishers  have  the  pleasure  of  reflecting  that  her  "  or- 
thodoxy "  is  in  no  sense  stifling.  She  has  shown  an  evan- 
gelical power  which  to-day  is  making  her,  in  spite  of  her 
modest  dimensions,  one  of  the  observed  of  American 
churches. 

The  Assembly  of  1866  enjoined  upon  every  Presbytery 
"  to  seek  out  and  set  apart  a  minister  to  the  work  of  the 
evangelist  for  its  own  bounds,  to  take  the  superintendence 
of  its  vacant  congregations  wherever  practicable  "  ;  and 
wherever  such  a  course  should  be  impracticable,  "  to  ap- 
portion such  congregations  among  its  ministerial  members 
for  the  same  object,  so  that  every  congregation  and  all 
freed  people "  should  "  enjoy  the  pastoral  oversight  of 
some  minister  in  their  assemblies."1 

This  injunction  expresses  the  Assembly's  attitude,  in 
general,  toward  this  department  of  church  work,  main- 
tained until  the  present.  In  1886  the  Assembly  adopted 
a  report  emphasizing  the  importance  of  evangelistic  work, 
and  reminding  the  churches  (a)  "  that  Presbyterianism 
cannot  accomplish  its  mission  unless  it  become  more  ag- 
gressive ;  (b)  that  constant  aggressiveness — in  other  words, 
preaching  the  gospel  in  the  regions  beyond — is  one  great 
mission  of  the  church ;  that  preaching  the  gospel  to  the 
poor  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  true 
church." 2 

The  Presbyteries  and  churches,  as  they  had  ability  and 
grace,  responded  to  the  Assembly's  resolutions  by  striv- 
ing to  work  them  out  in  life.    True,  the  church  has  never 

1  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  36. 

2  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  1886,"  p.  44. 


PASTORAL  WORK. 


been  satisfied  with  the  results  secured  in  the  way  of 
effort ;  but  handsome  efforts  have  been  put  forth.  If 
the  Assembly's  evangelistic  enterprises  have  been  allowed 
to  languish,  many  of  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  have 
prosecuted  presbyterial  and  synodical  evangelization  with 
great,  if  somewhat  selfish,  enthusiasm. 

In  1 88 1  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  entered  upon  what  is 
now  known  as  pioneer  enterprise  of  synodical  evangelism. 
Some  individual  Christians  offered  to  make  a  liberal  dona- 
tion to  home  mission  work  within  the  bounds  of  that 
State,  provided  the  churches  of  the  State  should  raise  a 
stipulated  sum.  This  offer  has  been  renewed,  and  the 
work  kept  up,  from  year  to  year.  Recently  not  less  than 
eight  or  ten  Synods,  led  on  by  this  example,  have  inaugu- 
rated some  form  of  synodical  work.1 

The  various  evangelistic  efforts,  backed  some  in  one 
way,  some  in  another,  have  not  always  co-worked  without 
friction  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole  church.  It 
does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  our  present  purpose  to 
discuss  at  this  point  the  relative  propriety  of  these  several 
forms  of  effort.  That  will  come  later.  Here  we  have  but 
to  observe  that  in  "every  way  Christ  is  preached,"  and 
the  church  grows. 

Third,  faithful  effort  on  the  part  of  the  pastor  and  peo- 
ple. Where  an  army  does  anything  toward  the  permanent 
occupation  of  a  hostile  country,  there  must  be  something 
more  than  skirmishes  of  the  advance  guard  along  the  few 
lines  of  its  approach.  The  real  battle  occurs  later,  when 
the  great  hosts  have  come  up  face  to  face  with  one  an- 
other. The  invaders  then  must  overwhelm  their  foes,  and 
must  seize  and  man  the  citadels  of  the  land.  Even  then 
the  war  is  not  over.  The  Philistines  may  arise  at  any  mo- 
ment.   Israel  secures  her  quiet  only  at  the  price  of  eternal 

1  "  Report  of  Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions  of  1893,"  p.  11. 


362 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


vigilance.  The  sort  of  advance  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church  has  made  is  the  best  possible  testimonial  to  the 
common  watchfulness  and  fidelity  of  the  whole  church. 
The  great  majority  of  her  members,  under  the  guidance 
of  her  ministers  and  preachers,  have  been  faithful,  and  in 
their  measure  efficient.  '  The  preachers  have  done  their 
duty  nobly  in  proclaiming  the  needs,  and  the  poverty  of 
the  people  has  abounded  unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality. 

The  truth  of  this  assertion  will  be  illustrated  with  toler- 
able fullness  in  the  remaining  part  of  this  chapter,  which  is 
devoted  to  setting  forth  the  development  of  the  church's 
several  agencies.  Anticipating  its  establishment,  we  be- 
hold in  the  fact  one  of  the  causes,  under  God,  of  the  rapid 
numerical  increase  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church. 

i.  Foreign  Missions. 

The  large  place  given  to  foreign  missions  in  the  heart 
and  work  of  the  church  at  the  time  of  her  organization — 
at  a  time  when  there  seemed  next  to  no  possibility,  owing 
to  the  barriers  of  war,  of  doing  any  foreign  mission  work 
except  among  the  Indians  of  the  Southwest — has  been 
remarked  upon  and  admired  for  its  heroism  of  faith  and 
singular  devotion  to  our  Lord's  last  command.  Special 
attention  was  called,  moreover,  to  the  nature  of  the  agency 
which  the  church  then  created  to  carry  out  this  most 
important  of  church  enterprises.  Under  the  control  of 
natural  sagacity  the  committee  and.  missionaries  did  their 
work  without  the  aid  of  a  formal  interpretation  of  the 
committee's  constitutional  powers  and  the  missionaries'  re- 
lations until  1877.  But  by  that  time  the  missionaries  had 
become  much  more  numerous,  and  there  was  need  of  such 
an  interpretation.  The  Assembly  of  1877  adopted  a  man- 
ual for  the  use  of  missionaries  and  missionary  candidates. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


363 


Certain  excerpts  from  the  more  important  sections  of  this 
manual  will  repay  the  reader's  attention.  They  are  as 
follows : 

The  Executive  Committee. — The  committee,  in  virtue  of  authority  conferred 
upon  it  by  the  General  Assembly,  directs  and  superintends  the  missionary 
work  in  all  departments,  but  exercises  no  ecclesiastical  functions.  It  may, 
however,  give  friendly  advice  to  missionaries  in  relation  to  church  matters 
when  requested  to,  do  so.  It  appoints  missionaries  and  assistant  mission- 
aries ;  determines  their  fields  of  labor ;  fixes  their  salaries ;  determines  their 
particular  employments  ;  and  may  transfer  a  missionary  from  one  department 
of  labor  to  another,  having  clue  regard,  however,  to  the  views  and  feelings 
of  the  missionary  himself  in  all  these  matters.  The  committee  may  recall  a 
missionary  for  incompetence,  for  neglect  of  duty,  for  disobedience  to  instruc- 
tions, or  for  disorderly  conduct.  The  missionary,  however,  in  case  he  feels 
aggrieved,  has  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  General  Assembly,  to  which  the 
missionary  and  the  Executive  Committee  are  alike  responsible. 

Missionaries. — The  missionary  is  regarded  in  the  light  of  an  evangelist  in 
the  Scriptural  sense  of  the  term.  .  .  .  His  business  is  to  preach  the  gospel ; 
to  found  churches  ;  to  aid  in  forming  Presbyteries,  when  the  native  churches 
are  prepared  for  such ;  to  translate  the  Word  of  God  when  necessary ;  to 
train  native  preachers ;  and  to  do  whatever  else  may  be  necessary  to  the 
promotion  of  evangelical  religion.  He  may  not  become  a  settled  pastor  of  a 
church,  but  shall  establish  native  pastorates  over  all  such  churches  as  soon 
as  suitable  persons  can  be  found,  while  he  himself  shall  go  on  founding  new 
churches  wherever  God's  providence  shall  make  it  proper  to  do  so.  He  may 
advise  a  church  session,  or  may  preside  at  its  meetings  when  requested  to 
do  so,  but  he  shall  not  have  an  authoritative  voice  in  any  of  its  proceedings. 
So  he  may  aid  in  establishing  a  Presbytery,  when  the  native  churches  are 
prepared  for  it ;  he  may,  upon  invitation,  sit  as  a  corresponding  member  in 
the  Presbytery  and  give  advice ;  but  he  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  member, 
or  to  exercise  any  of  the  rights  of  one,  but  retains  his  connection  with  his 
Presbytery  at  home. 

Assistant  Missionaries. — This  term  is  applied  indifferently  to  laymen  sent 
out  as  teachers,  to  missionary  physicians,  to  unmarried  ladies,  and  to  the 
wives  of  missionaries.  All  these,  save  the  wives  of  missionaries,  are  under 
the  general  direction  of  the  mission. 

The  Mission. — At  every  central  station  there  is  a  mission,  technically  so 
called — a  sub-committee — acting  in  direct  and  constant  communication  with 
the  Executive  Committee  of  Missions.  It  is  composed  of  all  the  mission- 
aries and  male  assistant  missionaries  of  the  different  stations.  No  native 
can  be  a  member  of  it  except  by  the  appointment  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, on  the  recommendation  of  the  mission.  All  members  of  the  mission 
are  expected  to  correspond  freely  with  the  home  office ;  but  in  relation  to 


364 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


business  matters,  such  as  appropriation  of  funds,  the  establishment  _  of 
schools,  the  formation  of  new  stations,  the  return  of  missionaries,  and  the 
like,  the  correspondence  shall  be  between  the  mission  as  such  and  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

Qualifications  for  the  Missionary  Work. — As  a  general  thing  the  same 
qualifications  which  will  render  a  minister  useful  in  the  home  field  will  make 
him  equally  so  in  the  foreign.  One  who  does  not  promise  to  be  useful  and 
efficient  at  home  ought  not  for  a  moment  to  think  of  going  abroad.  The 
missionary  ought  to  have  an  unimpaired  physical  constitution ;  good  intel- 
lectual training;  a  reasonable  facility  for  acquiring  language;  a  sound  judg- 
ment of  men  and  things  ;  versatility  of  gifts  ;  tact  and  adaptation  to  men  of 
all  classes  and  circumstances ;  a  cheerful,  hopeful  spirit ;  ability  to  work 
harmoniously  with  others ;  persistent  energy  in  carrying  out  plans  once 
formed ;  consecrated  common  sense — all  controlled  by  single-heartedness, 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  Christ  and  his  cause. 

Support  of  Missionaries. — The  salary  allowed  a  missionary  is  not  regarded 
in  the  light  of  a  compensation  for  services  rendered.  The  church,  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  work,  aims  simply  to  enable  the  missionary  to  carry  out 
with  efficiency  the  desires  of  his  own  heart,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  un- 
evangelized  nations  of  the  earth.  She  proposes,  therefore,  to  give  him  what 
may  be  regarded  as  a  comfortable  but  economical  support — such  a  support  as 
will  free  him  from  all  anxious  cares  about  his  temporal  comforts  and  enable 
him  to  give  himself  wholly  to  the  work  of  the  Lord.1 

As  appears  from  the  third  article  of  the  constitution  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  but  more  clearly  from  the  first 
of  the  above  excerpts,  the  so-called  Executive  Committee 
is  a  commission  rather  than  a  committee.2  It  is  empow- 
ered to  take  tentative  courses  on  occasions  of  emergency, 
which  must  be  considered  and  may  be  approved  by  the 
next  Assembly,  but  which  are  in  the  interim  backed  by 
the  power  of  the  court  constituting  the  commission.  Just 
at  present  there  is  an  agitation  in  the  church  as  to  whether 
certain  functions,  now  exercised  by  this  committee,  should 
not  rather  be  exercised  by  the  Presbyteries  and  church 
sessions.  It  is  affirmed  by  some  that  the  present  usage  of 
our  church,  as  well  as  of  most  others,  in  this  particular, 
is  unscriptural ;  that  the  Presbyteries  should  appoint  and 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  1877,"  pp.  418  et  seq. 

2  Compare  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  105. 


THE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


365 


direct  the  missionaries.  This  affirmation  is  incapable  of 
proof.  The  only  debatable  ground  is  that  of  expediency. 
Whether  the  superintendence  of  missionaries  is  made  the 
work  of  a  lower  or  of  a  higher  court  depends  on  the  con- 
stitutional definitions  of  the  spheres  of  the  several  courts. 
Either  court,  being  composed  of  elders  of  two  coordinate 
classes,  is  a  Scriptural  body.  Before  the  constitution  of 
the  church  has  defined  and  restricted  the  rights  of  the 
several  courts,  the  Assembly  is  Scripturally  competent  to 
exercise  the  functions  which  have  been  actually  assigned 
to  its  committee,  and  assigned  to  it  in  the  constitution. 
But  the  agitation  has  been  so  earnest,  and  by  men  of  such 
ability  and  prominence,  that  the  second  Macon  Assembly 
(1893)  has  appointed  "  an  ad  interim  committee  to  inves- 
tigate the  entire  matter,  and  report  to  the  next  General 
Assembly  ...  as  to  the  expediency  of  transferring  any 
functions  from  the  Executive  Committee  to  the  Presby- 
teries and  church  sessions."  This  committee  is  assigned 
the  further  task  of  seeing  whether,  in  their  judgment,  any 
modification  should  be  made  in  the  present  method  of  ad- 
ministration in  this  part  of  the  church's  work,  and  whether 
any  amendment  should  be  made,  and  if  so,  what,  to  the 
present  manual.1 

The  size  of  the  Executive  Committee,  originally  eleven, 
was  by  the  Assembly  of  1888,  owing  to  some  quirk,  en- 
larged to  fifteen.  The  Assembly  of  1889  reduced  it  again 
to  eleven.  This  number  is  large  enough  for  counsel.  It 
secures  a  greater  sense  of  individual  responsibility  than 
the  larger  number.2 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  1893,"  p.  42. 

2  The  location  of  the  committee  was  at  first  at  Columbia,  S.  C.  In  1875 
it  was  removed  to  Baltimore.  In  1889  it  was  carried  to  Nashville.  The 
reason  for  the  transference  to  Baltimore  was  that  the  committee  might  be 
afforded  the  larger  facilities  of  a  commercial  and  financial  center.  An  un- 
happy local  friction  was  the  occasion  of  the  removal  to  Nashville. 


366 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


The  secretaries  of  this  committee  have  been  able  men.1 
Dr.  Wilson  was  a  man  of  massive  virtues,  profound  sagac- 
ity, practical  methods,  great  executive  ability,  fruitful 
piety,  and  marked  consecration  to  the  cause  of  missions. 
Dr.  Mcllwaine,  as  secretary,  was  characterized  by  the 
practical  good  sense,  the  earnestness,  and  the  ability  to 
accomplish  his  ends  which  have  marked  him  in  every  rela- 
tion in  which  the  providence  of  God  has  placed  him.  But 
the  Napoleon  of  foreign  missions  thus  far  in  this  church 
has  been  Dr.  Houston.  In  mental  endowment,  in  iron 
persistency,  in  the  spirit  of  "  this  one  thing  I  do,"  in  a 
sense  of  the  sublime  importance  of  the  work  of  foreign 
missions,  in  a  contagious  enthusiasm  for  it,  as  well  as  in 
nearly  all  the  essentials  of  the  executive  officer,  he  is  be- 
hind no  secretary  of  foreign  missions  that  we  know  any- 
thing of.  He  may  have  failed  in  a  few  instances  to  meet 
with  tact  the  wills  of  advisers  scarcely  less  imperious  than 
his  own ;  he  may  have  somewhat  of  the  prelate  in  him ; 
but  no  man  can  deny  that  like  a  skillful  general  he  has 
marshaled  the  hosts  among  whom  God  has  placed  him. 
That  the  church  is  getting  into  the  very  first  rank  of  for- 
eign mission  workers  is  due  in  part  to  this  fragile-looking, 
high-headed,  long-faced,  iron-jawed  man. 

Nevertheless,  we  would  not  forget  that  the  missionary 
zeal  exhibited  arose  not  primarily  from  the  secretaries, 
but  from  the  church.  The  secretaries  were  of  the  church, 
and  its  exponents.  The  church  has  been  from  the  be- 
ginning a  missionary  church.  We  have  seen  that  it  was 
in  1 86 1. 

1  The  Rev.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.D.,  was  secretary  1861-85,  and  secre- 
tary emeritus  1885-87,  Rev.  R.  Mcllwaine  having  been  coordinate  secretary 
1872-82.  M.  H.  Houston,  D.D.,  was  secretary  1884-93.  The  Rev.  H.  M. 
Woods  was  elected  by  the  Assembly  of  1893  to  this  post  of  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  aggressive  forces  of  our  church.  Dr.  Woods  has  refused  to 
accept  the  election,  however. 


RECOMMENDATION  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY.  367 


In  1862  the  Assembly  renewed  the  recommendation 
"  for  a  concert  of  prayer,  to  be  held  on  the  first  Sabbath 
of  each  month,  in  all  our  churches,  for  the  Lord's  blessing 
on  the  cause  of  missions,  and  that  contributions  be  made 
at  those  meetings  whenever  expedient."1  This  recom- 
mendation in  substance  has  been  renewed  from  year  to 
year,  and  kindred  ones  added :  such  as  that  in  the  public 
services  of  the  church  prayer  be  regularly  made  for  all 
men,2  and  missionary  intelligence  be  diffused  and  mission- 
ary motives  be  enforced  by  the  Executive  Committee,  by 
pastors,  by  Sabbath-school  superintendents  and  teachers.3 
In  1867  the  Executive  Committee  was  authorized  to  pub- 
lish a  monthly  missionary  paper  for  gratuitous  distribution 
to  the  ministers  and  Sabbath-school  superintendents.  This 
paper  has  been  fostered  carefully  by  the  Assembly  from 
that  time  to  the  present.  It  has  grown  to  be  a  self-sup- 
porting paper  of  unusual  merit.  Its  circulation  on  April  1, 
1893,  was  92 50.4  It  is  doing  incalculable  good  to  the 
cause  of  missions. 

The  Assembly  of  1884  recommended  to  the  faculties 
of  the  theological  seminaries  "  that  in  some  way  they  seek 
to  beget  and  foster  among  the  students  a  lively  interest  in 
foreign  missions."  5  This  recommendation  has  been  re- 
peated, as  by  the  Assembly  of  1890,  which  recommended 
further  "  that  the  question  of  the  duty  of  enlisting  person- 
ally in  the  missionary  service"  abroad  be  pressed  on  the 
attention,  not  only  of  theological  students,  but  of  our  pas- 
tors and  consecrated  members."6  The  Assembly  of  1882 
resolved  that  it  "  advise  the  Presbyteries  to  devote  one 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  1862,"  p.  10. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1891,"  p.  237. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1874,"  p.  418;  1884,  p.  212;  1887,  p.  242. 

4  "  Annual  Report  of  Executive  Committee  of  1891,"  p.  5. 

5  "  Minutes  of  1884,"  p.  272. 

6  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  1890,"  p.  32,  part  iii. 


368 


THE  SOUTHERX  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


evening  during  the  spring  session,  or  such  other  hour  as 
may  be  convenient,  to  the  general  discussion  of  foreign 
missions  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation  among  whom 
they  meet."1  And  since  1867  the  Assembly  itself  has 
devoted  an  evening  of  each  session  to  a  discussion  of  this 
great  enterprise.  In  all  these  ways  the  Assembly  has 
tried  to  excite  an  intelligent  interest  on  the  subject,  and 
thus  occasion  larger  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  church. 

Furthermore,  the  Assembly  has  tried  to  elicit  larger  gifts 
by  encouraging  the  formation  of  congregational  missionary 
societies,  ladies',  young  men's,  and  children's,2  and  at  times 
by  specifying,  through  her  committee,  objects  for  which 
individual  churches  might  contribute.3  She  has  once  and 
again  empowered  her  Executive  Committee  to  make,  dur- 
ing defined  periods,  special  appeals  for  free-will  offerings.4 

Nor  has  the  church  made  an  ignoble  response  to  these 
efforts  by  her  highest  courts.  In  poverty  at  the  start,  in 
relative  poverty  now,  her  people,  ever  cramped  by  finan- 
cial stresses,  have  yet  abounded  in  their  liberality.  Dur- 
ing the  later  years  of  the  ninth  decade  individual  churches 
in  considerable  numbers  undertook  the  support  of  one  or 
more  missionaries.  Some  of  the  congregations  which  did 
this  had  been,  as  they  supposed,  unable  to  give  more  than 
the  meagerest  support  to  their  own  pastor.  But  the  Lord 
enlarged  them.  Nor  have  the  people  been  slow  in  offer- 
ing themselves  as  compared  with  other  churches.  Pastors, 
young  and  middle-aged,  candidates  for  the  ministry,  con- 
secrated laymen,  and  ladies,  have,  as  a  rule,  responded  to 
the  calls  as  fast  as  made. 

The  church's  missionary  zeal  has  manifested  itself  fur- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1882,"  p.  546. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1873,"  p.  365;  1785,  p.  37;  1878,  p.  619;  1892,  p.  446. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1884,"  p.  262.  4  "  Minutes  of  1886,"  p.  35. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONARIES. 


369 


ther  in  a  disposition  to  scrutinize  closely  the  work  of  mis- 
.  sionaries.1  The  courts  of  the  church  have  shown  this  dis- 
position, and  the  people  themselves,  to  a  pleasing  degree. 
One  of  the  common  topics  of  discussion  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian home  of  late  years  is  as  to  the  best  method  of  foreign 
mission  work — the  place  of  the  school  in  foreign  mission 
i  work,  the  place  of  the  native  Christian  worker,  the  relation 
which  the  missionary  should  sustain  to  the  native  Chris- 
tians, the  relation  of  the  church,  when  set  up  in  the  regions 
beyond,  to  the  home  church,  whether  it  should  be  autono- 
mous or  not. 

To  say  the  least,  the  growing  zeal  of  the  church  in  mis- 
sions has  not  been  retarded  by  the  lives  of  the  missionaries. 
On  the  contrary,  one  of  the  things  which  has  helped  to 
fan  missionary  zeal  to  a  flame  is  the  conduct  and  lives  of 
the  noble  bands  of  missionaries  who  have  gone  out  from 
the  church.  Mistakes  have  been  made  in  sending  out 
missionaries.  In  rare  cases  an  unworthy  man  has  been 
sent;  some  have  gone  who  had  little  to  commend  them 
but  an  earnest  spirit  of  service ;  but  as  a  rule  the  men  sent 
have  been  a  credit  to  the  church.  Such  men  as  Lane  and 
Boyle  in  Brazil,  as  Houston,  Johnson,  Davis  in  China,  as 
Lapsley  in  Africa,  and  dozens  of  others  in  these  coun- 
tries, have  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  an  inspiration  to, 
and  provocative  of,  missionary  effort  in  the  home  church. 
Their  difficult  and  lonely  duties  have  been  performed  with 
fidelity  and  ability,  and  generally  with  gratifying  results. 

The  church  has  planted  stations  in  China,  Italy,  the 
United  States  of  Colombia,  Brazil,  Mexico,  Greece,  Japan, 
the  Congo  Free  State,  Cuba,  and  Corea,  as  well  as  among  the 
Indians.  She  counted  at  the  end  of  the  ecclesiastical  year 
April  31,  1892,  to  April  31,  1893,  34  missionaries  in  China, 
22  in  Brazil,  8  in  Mexico,  21  in  Japan,  7  in  Africa,  7  in 
1  "  Minutes  of  1883,"  p.  32. 


37o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


Corea,  2  in  Cuba,  and  I  in  Italy.  A  good  many  rfave 
been  sent  out  since.1  As  a  result  of  missionary  effort,  the 
church  can  now  look  upon  about  2000  communicants,  many 
hundreds  of  young  people  receiving  Christian  instruction, 
many  native  teachers,  preachers,  etc.,  at  work  among  their 
people,  spreading  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  God, 
an  immeasurable  influence  on  the  heathen  world,  predis- 
posing it  to  hear  Christianity  as  it  is.  The  results  in  either 
Mexico  or  Japan  are  enough  to  justify  all  the  efforts  which 
the  church  has  put  forth  in  behalf  of  missions. 

Nevertheless,  the  great  law  of  its  propagation  laid  down 
in  Acts  i.  8  has  not  been  sufficiently  followed  by  the  church 
in  its  mission  work.  That  law  is :  The  church  shall  in  its 
propagandism  seek  to  witness  where  its  witnessing  will 
result  in  the  most  efficient  additions  to  the  army  of  witness- 
bearers  for  Christ.  We  look  back  with  joy  on  the  spirit 
of  missions  by  which  the  church  has  been  characterized, 
but  cannot  fail  to  remark  that  it  has  lacked  an  adequate 
knowledge  of  the  religious  conditions  of  the  world  so  as  to 
know  where  best  to  push  its  witness  for  Christ.  It  made 
a  fiasco  in  the  United  States  of  Colombia.  It  failed  to 
sufficiently  concentrate  on  Japan  when  Japan  was  openest 
to  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — let  the  opportunity 
of  centuries  slip.  Often  the  church  in  its  mission  work 
has  displayed  zeal  with  only  limited  knowledge.  It  has 
struck  about  like  blind  Samson,  whereas,  looking  equally 
to  God,  it  should  have  used  its  eyes.  The  demand  which 
God  makes  of  the  church  for  intelligent  effort — a  knowl- 
edge of  the  field  where  present  missionary  effort  will  be 
most  effective,  and  for  work  there — is  one  that  only  the 

1  The  China  Mission  was  established  in  1866;  that  to  the  United  States 
of  Colombia  existed  from  1866  to  1877  ;  that  to  Italy  was  established  in  1867 ; 
that  to  Brazil,  in  1868;  that  to  Mexico,  in  1874;  that  to  Greece,  in  1874; 
that  to  Japan,  in  1886 ;  that  to  the  Congo  Free  State,  in  1890;  that  to  Cuba, 
in  1890;  that  to  Corea,  in  1892. 


HOME  MISSIONARIES. 


371 


superficial  can  deny.  Yet  the  church  has  not  been  wide 
awake  to  the  demand.  Again,  our  church  courts  have 
given  too  great  a  play  to  voluntaryism  in  missions  in  de- 
termining who  should  go.  It  is  easy  enough  to  see  this 
in  looking  over  the  list  of  missionaries  sent  out.  The 
church  should  pick  her  men  as  the  early  church  did — pick 
them  on  account  of  special  fitness  for  the  work. 

To  a  greater  growth  of  missionary  effort  the  church 
needs  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  course,  and  the  truth  in  the 
heart  and  the  soul  of  the  churchy  and  moving  the  church 
— the  truth  as  to  the  nature  and  destiny  of  unregenerate 
man,  and  that  Jesus  can  and  will  save. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  remark  that  the  church,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Pan- Presbyterian  Council,  has  for  a 
number  of  years  been  employing  active  measures  to  bring 
about  all  proper  cooperation  with  other  Presbyterian  bodies 
of  sound  faith  in  the  mission  field.  In  particular,  a  plan  of 
cooperation  with  the  Northern  Church  in  foreign  missions 
was  agreed  on  by  the  Assembly  of  1893,  according  to 
which,  in  schools,  theological  seminaries,  and  evangelistic 
work,  the  two  churches  are  to  work  in  closest  concert 
and  harmony.  The  missionaries  of  several  Presbyterian 
churches,  including  these  two,  had  for  years  been  in  virtual 
cooperation.1 

This  movement  is  a  correct  one,  though  attended  by 
some  dangers.  Witnessing  loses  its  power  when  it  loses 
its  distinctness. 

2.  Home  Missions. 

We  have  already  shown  how  before  its  organization, 
during  the  interregnum,  the  work  of  this  committee  was 
carried  on  by  the  Southwestern  Advisory  Committee ; 
and  we  have  indicated  the  scope  of  the  work  and  the  con- 

1  See  "  Report  of  Executive  Committee  of  1893,"  pp.  10,  11. 


372  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


stitution  of  the  agency  as  erected  by  the  Assembly  of 
1861,  under  the  title  of  "The  Committee  of  Domestic 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America."  1  We  propose  now  to  trace  the  growth 
and  branching  of  this  work  to  the  present. 

The  Greater  Constitutional  Cliangcs. — Let  us  look  first 
at  the  greater  constitutional  changes  in  the  agency.  In 
1865  the  war  left  the  bounds  of  the  Southern  Church 
filled  with  crippled  and  broken-down  churches,  "  espe- 
cially along  the  broad  track  of  those  desolating  marches 
that  were  made  through  most  of  the  central  Southern 
States."  The  country  had  been  reduced  to  savage  pov- 
erty, sanctuaries  had  been  broken  down,  and  ministers — 
able  ones — compelled  to  betake  themselves  to  secular  avo- 
cations to  get  bread.  Moreover,  emissaries  from  the  con- 
quering section  were  pouring  in  with  a  view  to  gathering 
her  flocks  into  folds  which  they  had  not  known.2 

The  church  felt  that  she  must  rise  and  give  herself  to 
relieving  the  distress  of  her  suffering  members.  The 
Assembly  of  1865,  accordingly,  determined  to  raise  a  sus- 
tentation  fund,  and  assigned  this  work  to  the  Executive 
Committee  of  Domestic  Missions,  adding  to  the  commit- 
tee, moreover,  a  wide-awake  man  from  each  Synod,  whose 
special  duty  it  was  to  canvass  his  Synod,  ascertain  what 
churches  were  needing  help,  what  ones  were  able  to  con- 
tribute, and  to  do  all  he  could,  by  correspondence  and  vis- 
itation, to  collect  funds  for  this  general  object.3 

The  effort  was  successful.  "  The  appointment  of  synod- 
ical  commissioners  to  act  in  concert  with  the  committee 
proved  to  be  a  wise  and  judicious  measure.  In  no  other 
way  would  it  have  been  possible  either  to  ascertain  the 
condition  and  wants  of  the  brethren,  or  to  have  distributed 

1  Chapter  ii.,  pp.  340  ff.  2  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  391. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  391. 


HOME  MISSIONS. 


373 


the  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  committee  in  a  just  and 
equitable  manner."1 

In  the  meantime  the  cause  of  domestic  missions  proper 
had  been  coming  on  badly.  Not  one  fifth  of  the  churches 
during  the  year  1865-66  contributed  anything  to  the  cause, 
and  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  funds  which  came  to  the 
hands  of  the  Executive  Committee  came  specially  desig- 
nated to  the  cause  of  sustentation.  The  prostration  of 
the  country  explained  in  part  the  small  contributions,  but 
there  were  other  causes.  The  Executive  Committee  occu- 
pied an  anomalous  position  in  the  minds  of  most  of  the 
church-members.  Some  regarded  it  as  a  mere  financial 
agency,  whose  special  province  it  was  "  to  gather  up  the 
surplus  funds  of  the  wealthier  churches  and  Presbyteries, 
and  apply  them  to  the  weaker  Presbyteries  and  destitute 
regions  of  the  country." 2  Others,  again,  regarded  the 
committee  as  combining  in  itself  both  ecclesiastical  and 
financial  functions,  "  as  a  complete  and  sufficient  instru- 
mentality for  carrying  on  the  work  of  domestic  missions."3 
Further,  the  church  felt  that,  in  her  peculiar  circumstances, 
she  scarcely  had  any  need,  then,  of  a  Committee  of  Domes- 
tic Missions,  regarding  that  committee  in  the  light  of  an 
evangelistic,  aggressive  agency.  The  whole  field  was  cov- 
ered with  Presbyteries,  the  best  agents  that  can  be  em- 

1  "  Executive  Committee's  Report  of  1866,"  p.  44. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  49. 

3  The  constitution  of  the  committee  had  clothed  it  with  powers  too  large 
— the  rights  of  the  Presbytery  were  trenched  upon.  Article  III.  reads : 
"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  take  the  direction  and 
control  of  the  domestic  missionary  work,  subject  to  such  instructions  as  may 
be  given  by  the  General  Assembly  from  time  to  time;  to  appoint  mission- 
aries and  evangelists  for  the  field  of  labor  "  (sic)  "  and  to  provide  for  their  sup- 
port, and  to  aid  feeble  churches,  and  to  do  whatever  else  may  be  necessary 
for  the  advancement  of  domestic  missionary  work ;  and  that  in  the  discharge 
of  its  duties  the  committee  act  in  concert  and  harmony  with  the  Presbyteries 
and  churches  ;  that  the  committee  authorize  all  appropriations  and  expendi- 
tures of  money,  including  the  salaries  of  their  officers." — "  Minutes  of  the 
Assembly  of  1866,"  p.  20. 


374 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


ployed  in  carrying  on  missionary  work  in  their  own  bounds, 
certainly  so  far  as  ecclesiastical  control  is  concerned.  The 
church  did  feel,  on  the  other  hand,  an  urgent  need  of  her 
Sustentation  Committee.  Her  work  for  the  time  was  not 
so  much  to  establish  new  churches  as  to  repair  old  ones. 
Jerusalem  had  to  rebuild  her  own  walls  before  she  could 
dwell  in  safety  and  repossess  the  land. 

As  a  natural  sequence  of  this  condition  of  affairs,  the 
Assembly  of  1866,  in  response  to  an  overture  from  Dr.  J. 
Leighton  Wilson,  setting  forth  reasons,  the  chief  of  which 
we  have  given  above,  why  the  Committee  of  Domestic 
Missions  should  be  abolished  and  a  Committee  of  Sus- 
tentation be  appointed  in  its  place,  did  substantially  what 
Dr.  Wilson  overtured.1 

A  glance  over  the  constitution  of  the  Committee  of 
Sustentation  shows  that  the  new  committee  differs  from 
the  old  in  having  no  ecclesiastical  functions  2  save  in  respect 
to  the  missionaries  who  may  be  set  to  work  beyond  the 

1  For  overture,  see  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  pp.  49-52. 

2  The  preamble  to  the  resolution  which  contains  the  constitution  of  the 
Committee  of  Sustentation  asserts  :  "  To  the  Presbytery  it  belongs  to  ordain 
and  commission  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  commit  to  them  the  oversight  of 
the  particular  congregations,  upon  the  call  of  the  people,  and  to  appoint 
them,  with  their  own  consent,  to  fields  of  missionary  labor.  It  is  also  the 
province  of  the  Presbytery  to  determine  what  part  of  its  territory  is  to  be 
regarded  as  missionary  ground,  and  what  churches  ought  to  receive  assistance 
in  maintaining  their  pastors,  or  in  erecting  houses  of  worship.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  Presbytery  to  superintend  the  work  of  its  missionaries,  to  receive 
their  report,  and  to  the  Presbytery  alone  are  they  responsible,  in  the  first 
instance,  under  God,  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties.  It  is  there- 
fore incumbent  on  the  Presbyteries  to  provide  for  the  worldly  maintenance 
of  the  Lord's  ministers.  .  .  .  And  inasmuch  as  there  is  a  great  inequality 
in  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  different  Presbyteries,  and  because, 
according  to  the  law  of  the  life  of  the  church,  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the 
strong  to  aid  the  weak,  in  order  that  the  healthful  vigor  of  the  whole  body 
may  be  preserved,  it  becomes  necessary  to  have  some  central  agency,  through 
which  the  vital  current  of  the  church's  life  may  flow  in  clue  proportion  to 
every  part,  and  that  all  the  energy,  zeal,  and  resources  of  the  church  may 
be  combined  in  the  prosecution  of  its  most  important  work.  This  is  the 
office  of  the  General  Assembly,  but  it  can  only  be  practically  fulfilled  through 
a  committee." — "  Minutes  of  1866,"  pp.  27  ff. 


THE  INVALID  FUND. 


375 


bounds  of  any  Presbytery,  in  putting  sustentation  as  its 
first  object,  and  defining  more  specifically  the  purposes  of 
the  agency.  No  object  of  the  Committee  of  Domestic 
Missions  is  forgotten  in  the  construction  of  the  Committee 
of  Sustentation.  The  year  following  its  establishment  the 
Executive  Committee  asserted  in  its  annual  report  that 
four  general  objects  or  departments  of  labor  were  regarded 
as  included  in  the  general  plan  of  Sustentation:  "  i.  To 
aid  feeble  churches  in  support  of  their  pastors  and  sup- 
plies, and  thus  accomplish  the  twofold  object  of  maintain- 
ing the  stated  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  all  these  churches, 
and  at  the  same  time  secure  a  competency  for  every  labor- 
ing minister  throughout  the  church.  ...  2.  To  aid  in  the 
support  of  missionaries  and  evangelists  wherever  such  aid 
is  asked.  3.  To  assist  in  building  and  repairing  church 
edifices  wherever  the  people  have  not  the  means  of  them- 
selves to  do  it.  4.  To  assist  missionaries  or  ministerial 
laborers  in  getting  from  one  field  to  another,  where  they 
are  without  the  means  of  doing  this  of  themselves." 1  But 
while  no  object  of  the  Committee  of  Domestic  Missions  is 
forgotten,  the  name  of  the  new  committee,  the  frame  of 
its  constitution,  as  well  as  the  second  of  its  by-laws  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Assembly  of  1867,  and  which  reads:  "  The 
committee  shall  always  appropriate  specifically  to  the  dif- 
ferent objects  presented  by  the  Presbyterial  Committee  of 
Missions ;  and  unless  a  preference  is  expressed  to  the  con- 
trary, it  will  always  give  the  precedence  to  applications  in 
behalf  of  the  feeble  churches  " 2— all  show  that  the  work 
of  the  committee  was  chiefly  to  uphold  the  crushed  and 
broken  churches. 

The  Invalid  Fund. — But  this  committee  was  a  living 
branch  of  a  living  tree ;  it  was  to  grow  and  branch  itself. 
One  of  the  first  branches  of  the  work  to  develop  itself 
1  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  pp.  155,  156.        2  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  p.  159. 


376 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  III. 


was  the  Invalid  Fund.  As  far  back  as  1863  an  elaborate 
overture,  urging  the  Assembly  to  provide  a  fund  for  the 
relief  of  superannuated  and  disabled  ministers  and  their 
families,  was  introduced,  with  the  result  that  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  consider  the  whole  subject,  and  report 
to  the  next  General  Assembly.  No  practical  measures 
seem  to  have  resulted  from  this  effort. 

In  1867  aid  was  asked  of  the  Assembly  for  the  family 
of  a  minister  of  the  church,  recently  deceased ;  and  the 
Assembly  authorized  the  Committee  of  Sustentation  to 
"  appropriate  five  per  cent,  of  all  contributions  to  its  objects 
to  the  relief  of  destitute  widows  and  children  of  ministers, 
and  indigent  ministers  in  infirm  health,  provided  no  such 
per  cent,  be  appropriated  from  the  contribution  of  any 
church  or  person  prohibiting  such  appropriation,  and  pro- 
vided further  that  this  plan  of  operation  shall  not  continue 
longer  than  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  for  the  year 
1869."1 

This  was  a  merely  temporary  device.  In  1868,  "  in  lieu 
of  the  appropriation  of  five  per  cent,  of  the  Sustentation 
Fund,"  the  Assembly  enjoined  upon  the  Presbyteries  to 
have  a  collection  taken  up  in  all  the  churches  under  their 
care  for  a  relief  fund  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  relief 
of  disabled  ministers,  and  of  widows  and  orphans  of  de- 
ceased ministers.  These  collections  were  to  be  forwarded 
to  the  treasurer  of  Sustentation,  and  disbursed  according 
to  the  discretion  of  the  committee,  upon  application  made 
through  the  Presbyterial  Standing  Committees  on  Domes- 
tic Missions.2  The  Executive  Committee  was  to  have  no 
power  to  make  appropriations  except  they  should  be  first 
recommended  by  the  Presbyterial  Committee.  This  scheme 
remains  in  vogue. 

The  Evangelistic  Work. — The  Assembly  of  1873  deter- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  p.  148.        2  "  Minutes  of  1868,"  p.  274. 


PRE  SB  YTERIA  L  EVANGELISM. 


377 


mined  that  the  sustentation  and  evangelistic  work  should 
be  conducted  separately  after  January,  1874.  This  arm 
of  the  Assembly's  work  up  to  1873  was  regarded  as  hav- 
ing been  a  failure.  Contributions  had  been  small.  Nor  is 
it  a  matter  of  wonder — the  church  had  been  in  the  gripe 
of  Titanic  poverty.  It  was  hoped  that  the  contributions 
would  be  increased  by  separating  the  evangelistic  work. 
To  a  limited  extent  these  hopes  were  realized,  but  the 
contributions  to  this  cause  of  the  Assembly  have  never 
been  large. 

As  the  years  have  gone  by  an  increasing  number  of  the 
Presbyteries  and  many  of  the  Synods  have  preferred  to 
handle  the  funds  for  their  evangelists  themselves.  Hence, 
while  the  church  has  of  late  been  extraordinarily  active 
in  evangelization  in  the  home  territory,  the  Assembly's 
committee  has  done  but  little  relatively  in  the  work.  It 
should  be  observed  here,  however,  that  the  Assembly's  plan 
is  the  better  one.  The  plan  of  independent  synodical  and 
presbyterial  work  appeals  more  to  selfish  emulation,  syn- 
odical and  presbyterial  ambition.  It  causes  expenditures 
often  where  there  is  no  sufficient  promise,  and  non-ex- 
penditure in  fresh  fields,  full  of  promise,  in  our  newer  and 
weaker  Synods.  It  is  independent  rather  than  presbyte- 
rian  in  tendency,  weakening  to  the  common  life  of  the  great 
body. 

In  keeping  with  the  projection  to  the  front  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee's  functions  in  reference  to  evangeliza- 
tion was  the  change  of  the  committee's  name,  in  1879,  to 
"  Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions."  This  change 
suited  the  aspiration  of  the  committee  with  reference  to 
the  church's  future.  Furthermore,  the  people  found  it 
hard  to  understand  the  meaning  of  "  sustentation  "  as  ap- 
plied to  the  work  of  the  committee,  while  they  were  at 
onc-e  attracted  to  the  word  "  missions,"  and  would  readily 


378 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


comprehend  and  fall  in  with  the  idea  expressed  by  it.1 
Albeit  the  name  of  the  committee  was  changed,  the  func- 
tions remained  the  same,  saving  the  fact  that  the  evangel- 
izing functions  had  greater  relative  emphasis. 

The  Colored  Evangelistic  Fund. — The  next  branch  of 
this  agency  to  receive  specific  development  was  the 
Colored  Evangelistic  Fund,  in  1886.  We  have  seen  that 
in  the  Assembly  of  1861  missionary  operations  among  the 
colored  people  were  especially  enjoined  upon  the  Com- 
mittee of  Domestic  Missions,  the  Presbyteries  also  being 
exhorted  to  cooperate  with  the  committee  in  securing 
pastors  and  missionaries  for  this  field.  In  1865  the  As- 
sembly formed  the  first  of  a  series  of  plans  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  freedmen.  The  prevailing  sentiment  in  that 
Assembly  was  in  favor  of  a  united  church  life  for  the  two 
peoples,  though  even  so  early  the  plan  of  separate  congre- 
gations was  contemplated  as  a  possibility.  In  answer  to 
an  overture  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued  toward  the 
colored  people,  the  Assembly  resolved : 

That  whereas  experience  has  invariably  proved  the  advantages  of  the 
colored  people  and  the  white  being  united  together  in  the  worship  of  God, 
we  see  no  reason  why  it  should  be  otherwise  now  that  they  are  freedmen  and 
not  slaves.  Should  our  colored  friends  think  it  best  to  separate  from  us,  and 
organize  themselves  into  distinct  congregations  under  white  pastors  and  elders, 
for  the  present,  or  under  colored  elders  and  pastors  as  soon  as  God  in  his 
providence  shall  raise  up  men  suitably  qualified  for  those  offices,  this  church 
will  do  all  in  its  power  to  encourage,  foster,  and  assist  them.2 

In  1867  the  Assembly,  after  expressing  the  fear  that 
the  current  condition  of  the  colored  race  was  one  of  alarm- 
ing spiritual  jeopardy,  its  sincere  affection  for  these  people, 
and  its  sense  of  responsibility  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  save 
them  from  the  calamities  with  which  they  were  threat- 
ened, resolved : 

1  "  Report  of  Executive  Committee,"  1887,  pp.  7,  8. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  370. 


DR.  GIRARDEAU'S  PAPER. 


379 


That,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly,  it  is  highly  inexpedient  that  there 
should  be  any  ecclesiastical  separation  of  the  white  and  colored  races ;  that 
such  a  measure  would  threaten  evil  to  both  races,  and  especially  to  the  col- 
ored, and  that,  therefore,  it  is  desirable  that  every  warrantable  effort  be  made 
affectionately  to  dissuade  the  freed  people  from  severing  their  connection 
with  our  churches,  and  to  retain  them  with  us  as  of  old.  Should  they  de- 
cline this  fellowship  of  ordinances,  and  desire  a  separate  organization,  then 
our  sessions  are  authorized  to  organize  them  into  branch  congregations. 

In  such  cases  the  Assembly  recommends  that  such  congregations  shall  be 
allowed,  under  the  sanction  of  the  sessions,  to  elect  from  among  themselves, 
every  year,  such  number  of  superintendents  or  watchmen  as  the  session 
may  advise,  who  shall  be  charged  with  the  oversight  of  such  congregations. 
These  superintendents  shall  report  to  the  sessions,  for  their  action,  all  mat- 
ters relating  to  the  said  congregations. 

Whenever  Presbyteries  may  find  it  necessary  to  organize  separate  colored 
congregations,  they  shall  appoint  a  commission  of  elders,  who  shall  discharge 
the  functions  committed  to  the  sessions  in  the  preceding  resolution. 

That  while  nothing  in  our  Standards  or  the  Word  of  God  prohibits  the  in- 
troduction to  the  gospel  ministry  of  duly  qualified  persons  of  any  race,  yet 
difficulties  arise  in  the  general  structure  of  society,  and  from  providential 
causes,  which  may  and  should  restrain  the  application  of  this  abstract  prin- 
ciple. Holding  this  in  view,  the  Assembly  recommends  that  wherever  the 
session  or  Presbytery  shall  find  a  colored  person  who  possesses  suitable 
qualifications,  they  shall  be  authorized  to  license  him  to  labor  as  exhorter 
among  the  colored  people,  under  the  supervision  of  the  body  appointing 
him.1 

The  burden  here  was  evidently  too  heavy  for  the  As- 
sembly. It  had  a  bad  case  of  the  blind  staggers.  The 
church  was  stronger  than  the  Assembly  of  1866.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Synod  of  Virginia  and  Presbytery  of  Mississippi 
each  overtured  the  next  Assembly,  proposing  such  a 
modification  of  the  action  of  the  Assembly  of  1866  on 
the  relation  of  the  church  to  the  colored  people  as  should 
"  authorize  the  Presbyteries,  in  the  exercise  of  their  dis- 
cretion, to  ordain  to  the  gospel  ministry  and  to  organize 
into  separate  congregations  duly  qualified  persons  of  the 
colored  race,  and  so  declare  that  mere  race  or  color  is  not 
regarded  as  a  bar  to  office  or  privileges  in  the  Presbyterian 

1  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  pp.  35,  36.  Dr.  Girardeau  was  the  author  of  this 
paper. 


38o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


Church  in  the  United  States." 1  In  response  the  Assembly 
resolved : 

1.  That  resolutions  of  the  last  Assembly  complained  of  should  be  revoked. 

2.  That  inasmuch  as,  according  to  the  constitution,  the  duty  of  admitting 
candidates  to  the  office  of  the  gospel  ministry  devolves  solely  on  the  Presby- 
teries, and  that  of  electing  elders  and  deacons  solely  on  the  congregations, 
all  male  persons  of  proper  qualifications  for  such  offices,  of  whatever  race, 
color,  or  civil  condition,  must  be  admitted  or  elected  by  these  authorities 
respectively,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  our  church  government, 
and  in  the  exercise  of  a  sound  Christian  discretion. 

3.  That  the  Assembly  declines,  on  the  ground  of  constitutional  incompe- 
tency, to  make  any  declaration  respecting  the  future  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion of  such  freedmen  as  may  belong  to  our  communion,  believing  that  the 
responsibility  as  well  as  the  course  to  be  pursued  devolves  on  these  persons, 
who  are  both  politically  and  ecclesiastically  free  as  all  others  to  serve  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

4.  The  Assembly  earnestly  enjoins  on  all  our  ministers  and  people  to  use 
all  diligence  in  affectionate  and  discreet  efforts  for  the  spiritual  benefit  of  the 
colored  race  within  reach  of  their  private  and  public  ministrations,  and  to 
seek  by  all  lawful  means  to  introduce  them  into  a  permanent  connection  with 
our  church ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  Assembly  recognizes  the  lawfulness  of 
the  measures  such  as  have  long  been  used  in  various  portions  of  our  church, 
contemplating  the  judicious  selection  of  the  more  pious  and  intelligent  per- 
sons among  the  colored  communicants  in  suitable  official  capacities  for  the 
spiritual  benefit  of  their  own  race.2 

The  Assembly  of  1 869  was  somewhat  retrogressive.  It 
tried  to  formulate  a  general  plan  to  be  followed  by  all  the 
Presbyteries  in  dealing  with  the  negro.     It  resolved : 

That  separate  colored  churches  might  be  established,  the  same  to  be  united 
with  adjacent  white  churches  under  a  common  pastorate ;  to  be  allowed  to 
elect  deacons  and  ruling  elders ;  and  to  be  represented  in  the  upper  courts 
by  the  pastors  in  charge  of  them  and  by  the  ruling  elders  in  the  white 
churches  with  which  they  would  be  thus  associated,  until  they  should  be 
sufficiently  educated  to  warrant  their  becoming  independent ;  Provided  that 
the  colored  people  themselves  would  not  oppose  a  change  in  their  existing 
relations,  and  would  consent  to  the  foregoing  arrangement. 

It  further  resolved : 

That  suitable  colored  men  should  be  employed  to  speak  the  word  of  exhor- 
tation to  their  people,  under  the  direction  of  pastors  and  evangelists ;  that 
when  colored  candidates  for  the  ministry  should  be  able  to  stand  the  usual 

1  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  p.  145.  2  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  p.  45. 


COLORED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES. 


381 


examination,  Presbyteries  might  proceed  to  license  them  ;  and  in  event  of  these 
licentiates  being  qualified  and  desired  to  take  charge  of  colored  churches, 
Presbyteries  might  either  ordain  and  install  them  over  such  churches,  still 
holding  their  connection  with  us,  or  ordain  and  install  them  over  such  churches, 
with  the  understanding  that  they  should  thenceforward  be  ecclesiastically 
separated  from  us.1 

This  was  an  improvement  over  the  paper  of  1866  in 
that  it  does  not  trespass  against  the  form  of  church  polity 
to  such  an  extent  as  the  earlier  paper  did.  But  even  the 
latter  paper  is  faulty  in  this  respect.  What  sort  of  elders 
are  they  who  cannot  represent  the  church  in  the  Presby- 
tery? While  better  than  the  paper  of  1866,  the  resolu- 
tions of  1869  are  not  so  good  as  those  of  1867.  That 
paper  made  the  elder  an  elder,  though  he  were  black  as 
ebony ;  and  in  respect  to  the  separation  into  independent 
ecclesiastical  organizations,  it  was  solicitous  for  union,  and 
held  that  if  separation  came  it  must  come  of  the  negro's 
own  motion.  The  plan  of  1869,  however,  was  only  tenta- 
tive. It  was  not  until  the  Assembly  of  1874  that  a  definite 
policy,  which  remains  till  to-day,  was  adopted.  It  has 
been  briefly  stated  thus  :  "  The  Presbyterian  Church,  South, 
is  resolved  on  the  establishment  and  development  of  a 
separate,  independent,  self-sustaining  Colored  Presbyterian 
Church,  ministered  to  by  colored  preachers  of  approved 
piety,  and  such  training  as  shall  best  suit  them  for  their 
actual  life-work.'1 ' 2 

The  reasons  for  this  resolve  taken  by  the  Assembly  of 
1874,  and  supported  consistently  since,  were:  the  senti- 
ment of  the  church,  which  has  been  moving  steadily  in 
this  direction ;  a  recognition  of  the  natural  instinct  in  the 
colored  people,  expressing  itself  in  the  desire  for  a  sepa- 
rate organization ;  and  the  prospect  of  usefulness  in  assist- 
ing these  people  in  the  process  of  self-development. 

1  "  Minutes  of  1869,"  pp.  388,  389.    This  paper  was  by  Dr.  Girardeau. 

2  Phillips,  "  The  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Colored  People,"  p.  3. 


382 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


Toward  the  establishment  of  this  independent  Colored 
Presbyterian  Church  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church 
has  proposed  to  give  aid  in  the  form  of  "  sympathetic, 
practical  counsel,  liberal  offerings  of  money,  and  training 
for  their  ministers."1 

The  Assembly  of  1874  requested  the  Committee  of 
Sustentation  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  best  method 
of  providing  training  for  the  colored  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  report  thereupon  to  the  next  Assembly."  It 
asked  the  Presbyteries  to  institute  measures  for  their  in- 
struction, and  in  other  ways  to  push  the  work  among  the 
negroes.  And  it  established  the  Colored  Evangelistic 
Fund  for  the  "  sustentation  of  weak  colored  churches  and 
for  evangelistic  work  among  the  negroes."  This  fund  was 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  Committee  of  Sustentation  for 
its  administration.2 

The  committee  had  previously  made  contributions  for 
the  work  among  the  colored  people.  But  more  promi- 
nence was  given  this  department  of  work  in  1874.  The 
Assembly  of  1879  gave  the  committee  the  right  to  appro- 
priate for  this  purpose,  according  to  its  discretion.3  In 
1886  the  Assembly  made  an  effort  to  secure  increased 
contributions  for  the  cause  by  ordering  an  annual  collec- 
tion in  all  the  churches,  on  the  first  Sabbath  in  Decem- 
ber, for  the  evangelization  of  the  colored  race,  instead  of 
for  the  Tuscaloosa  Institute,  as  had  been  the  custom  since 
1877.  The  funds  secured  from  this  collection  were  to  be 
applied,  first,  for  supporting  the  Tuscaloosa  Institute,  and 
second,  in  carrying  on  evangelization  among  the  colored 
people. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions  continued 
in  charge  of  colored  evangelization  until  1891,  when  the 

1  Phillips,  "  The  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Colored  People,"  p.  9. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1874,"  pp.  576  ff.  3  "  Minutes  of  1879,"  p.  51. 


CHURCH  ERECTION  AND  LOAN  FUND. 


383 


Executive  Committee  of  Colored  Evangelization  was  or- 
ganized. The  treasurer  of  the  Home  Mission  Committee 
still  acts  as  treasurer  of  the  Colored  Evangelization  Fund ; 
but  in  other  respects  the  parent  committee  has  been  re- 
lieved of  the  official  care  of  the  negroes. 

At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  new  committee, 
four  Presbyteries,1  composed  entirely  of  African  ministers 
and  churches,  existed  in  kindly  relations  toward  the 
mother-church,  and  asked  such  aid  as  that  church  could 
give  in  the  work  undertaken.  The  efficient  and  devoted 
secretary  of  the  Committee  of  Colored  Evangelization  is 
the  Rev.  A.  L.  Phillips. 

The  Church  Erection  and  Loan  Fund. — The  Committee 
of  Home  Missions  was  destined  to  shoot  out  yet  another 
branch,  viz.,  "  The  Church  Erection  and  Loan  Fund." 
This  fund  is  intended  to  help  feeble  organizations  to  a 
church  home.  From  the  start  the  Committee  of  Sus- 
tentation  had  given  such  help  as  it  could.  In  1885  the 
Assembly  authorized  the  Executive  Committee  of  Home 
Missions  to  make  loans  to  congregations  in  aid  of  Church 
Erection,  which  loans  were  to  become  debts  of  honor, 
without  interest,  to  be  paid  back  in  instalments,  running 
from  one  to  five  years.  In  1888  the  Assembly  ordered 
the  establishment  of  a  separate  fund  for  Church  Erection, 
and  the  committee  directed  the  treasurer  to  transfer  the 
Loan  Fund  account  to  the  Church  Erection  account.  The 
two  funds  were  consolidated.  This  fund  is  growing.  The 
cause  is  popular.  The  fund  is  needed  that  small  organ- 
izations gathered  by  the  evangelists  may  be  housed  and 

• 

1  "  One  of  these,  the  Presbytery  of  North  and  South  Carolina,  had  been 
formed  for  a  number  of  years.  It  had  five  ministers,  one  licentiate,  and 
eleven  churches,  and  four  hundred  and  ninety-two  communicants.  Another, 
the  Presbytery  of  Texas,  organized  in  1888,  had  seven  ministers,  two  licen- 
tiates, and  seven  weak  churches.  Two  other  Presbyteries,  Ethel  and  Central, 
were  formed  in  1890  and  1 891.  They  were  smaller." — "  Report  of  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  Home  Missions  of  1891,"  p.  9. 


3§4 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


saved.  A  considerable  proportion  of  the  Presbyteries 
contribute  to,  and  use  of,  the  fund.  The  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  Home  Missions  has,  therefore,  to-day,  five  differ- 
ent funds  under  its  management :  the  Church  Erection  and 
Loan  Funds,  the  Sustentation,  the  Evangelistic  and  Indian 
Missions,  the  Invalid,  and  the  Colored  Evangelistic  Fund.1 

Having  looked  at  these  great  constitutional  develop- 
ments in  the  agency,  we  propose  now  to  glance  at  some  of 
the  more  important  incidental  objects  which  have  engaged 
the  attention  of  this  committee  in  the  course  of  its  history. 
One  of  the  first  of  these  in  time,  as  well  as  importance, 
was  supplying  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy  with  cJiap- 
lains.  The  committee's  heroic  exertions  in  this  direction 
were  in  part  the  cause,  so  far  as  man  can  be  cause  of  such 
a  thing,  of  the  twelve  thousand  hopeful  conversions  in  the 
Confederate  armies  during  the  year  1863-64,  and  almost 
as  great  a  number  the  year  following.2 

The  committee  has  performed  the  office,  to  a  certain 
extent,  of  an  intermediary  between  vacant  churches  and 
unemployed  ministers.  It  has  given  aid  to  organiza- 
tions laboring  in  behalf  of  seamen.  It  has  tried  to  raise 
the  minimum  salary  of  the  great  body  of  underpaid  pas- 
tors, etc. 

We  now  turn  to  look  at  the  sort  of  encouragement 
which  the  church  at  large  has  given  to  the  work  of  the 
committee.  The  Assemblies'  course  toward  the  committee 
has  been  one  of  undeviating  encouragement,  even  in  the 
department  of  evangelization.  The  Assembly  of  1871  in- 
structed the  Presbyteries  to  institute  and  provide  for  a 
visitation  of  all  its  churches  by  commissions  of  ministers 
and  ruling  elders,  "  to  see  how  each  of  them  stands  in  rela- 
tion to  this  matter,"  and  to  exhort  those  who  had  cooper- 

1  The  last  in  a  limited  sense  already  explained. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  pp.  315  ff. 


THE  BOARD  OF  AID. 


385 


ated  before  with  the  Sustentation  cause  to  a  still  larger 
effort  on  its  behalf.1  And  this  is  but  a  fair  specimen  of 
the  efforts  which  have  been  made  in  behalf  of  those  sev- 
eral branches  of  the  committee's  work  by  the  Assembly. 
The  Presbyteries,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  comply  to 
any  considerable  extent  with  the  instructions  of  187 1,  and 
generally  have  been  disproportionately  remiss  in  support- 
ing the  Evangelization  Fund,  while  only  tolerably  faithful 
in  supporting  the  work  of  the  committee  as  a  whole. 

The  arms  of  the  great  agency  which  we  have  been 
studying  had  often  been  exceedingly  feeble,  especially 
during  the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  war,  except 
for  aid  from  external  sources.  The  historian  would  be 
remiss  who  should  fail  to  remark  on  the  help  which  friends 
in  Kentucky,  in  Maryland,  and  in  New  York  City  ex- 
tended to  the  Southern  Church  during  her  trying  years 
under  the  political  reconstruction  of  the  country. 

The  Board  of.  Aid  for  Sontliern  Presbyterian  Pastors, 
located  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  informed  the  Assembly  of  1865 
that  already  $6000  had  been  collected  for  the  purposes  of 
the  board  in  its  projected  work.2  The  Assembly  was 
touched  and  deeply  gratified  at  this  manifestation  of 
Christian  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Kentucky  brethren, 
and  in  the  name  of  their  common  Master  accepted  their 
generous  tender  of  aid.  This  was  God's  manna  to  the 
Southern  Church.  The  Executive  Committee  was  made 
agent  for  receiving  and  disbursing  such  aid  as  might  be 
forwarded  to  them  from  the  Kentucky  source.3 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
1868,4  of  the  sum  received  the  preceding  year  for  Susten- 
tation $9190.73  had  been  contributed  by  Christian  friends 
outside  the  church  connection,  and  mainly  by  those  re- 

l  "  Minutes  of  1871,"  p.  35.  2  »  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  355. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  70.  *  "  Minutes  of  1868,"  p.  286. 


386 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


siding  in  Baltimore  and  the  vicinity,  and  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky.  During  the  two  and  a  half  years  preceding 
the  Assembly  of  1868  more  than  $40,000  of  their  contri- 
butions had  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  Committee 
of  Sustentation.1 

The  Son  titer  11  Aid  Society  of 'New  York. — This  society, 
which  was  organized  a  few  years  before  the  Civil  War, 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  aid  to  the  feeble  churches 
in  the  Southern  country,  was  an  incorporated  body,  and 
consisted  of  gentlemen  of  the  highest  moral  and  social 
position.  For  several  years  during  and  subsequent  to 
the  war  the  society  had  no  funds  to  distribute,  but  about 
1872  they  came  into  the  possession  of  about  $10,000,  de- 
vised to  their  society  to  be  disbursed  in  accordance  with 
their  constitution.  After  a  conference  with  the  secretary 
of  the  Committee  of  Sustentation  the  society  agreed  to 
make  its  annual  appropriations  with  the  advice  and  under 
the  direction  of  the  General  Assembly's  Committee  of 
Sustentation.2 

We  have  already  seen  that  this  committee  was  consol- 
idated with  that  of  foreign  missions  in  1863.  They  were 
separated  on  account  of  the  increasing  volume  of  work,  and 
because  it  was  considered  desirable  to  get  the  location 
of  the  Home  Mission  Committee  nearer  the  center  of  its 
great  field  of  operations.  In  1886  this  committee  was 
carried  to  Atlanta.3 

1  These  Christians  have  for  the  most  part  come  into  the  Southern  Church. 
The  First  Church  in  Baltimore  is  an  important  exception. 

2  The  secretaries  of  each  of  the  agencies  are  at  least  in  part  an  explana- 
tion of  the  peculiar  history  of  each.  The  secretaries  of  the  committee  under 
consideration  have  been:  Rev.  John  Leyburn,  D.D.,  1861-63;  Rev.  J. 
Leighton  Wilson,  D.D.,  1863-82;  Rev.  Richard  Mcllwaine,  D.D.,  co- 
ordinate secretarv,  1872-82;  Rev.  R.  Mcllwaine,  D.D.,  sole  secretary,  1882- 
83;  Rev.  J.  X.  Craig,  D.D.,  1883. 

3  The  several  locations  of  this  committee  have  been  at  New  Orleans,  1861- 
63;  Columbia,  S.  C,  1863-75;  Baltimore,  1875-86;  Atlanta,  1886-  .  New- 
Orleans  was  chosen  first  because  that  city  had  been  the  seat  of  the  South- 


EDUCATION.  387 

An  abortive  effort  or  two  has  been  made  at  cooperation 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  North,  in  the  work  of  this 
committee  in  behalf  of  the  freedmen.  The  way  to  a  more 
perfect  cooperation  is  not  shut  up,  however. 

3.  Education. 

In  the  account  of  the  Constituting  Assembly  we  have 
already  indicated  the  nature  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  Education.  Assuming,  at  this 
point,  a  sufficient  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  reader  of 
said  constitution,  we  propose  to  trace  the  more  important 
changes  in  the  constitution,  and  then  the  more  important 
experiences  and  activities  of  the  committee,  the  support, 
the  results  effected,  and  its  manning. 

The  plan  for  securing  an  educated  ministry  provided  in 
the  constitution  of  the  committee  organized  in  1861  has 
been  styled  a  beneficiary  or  eleemosynary  plan  of  edu- 
cation, and  has  never  been  in  universal  esteem  through- 
out the  church.  Several  attempts  have  been  made  to 
have  the  whole  plan  substituted  by  others.  In  1863  the 
Presbytery  of  Lexington  overtured  the  Assembly  to  this 
effect : 

In  view  of  the  doubt  of  many  in  our  church  in  respect  to  the  beneficiary 
system  of  education  as  provided  for  the  ministry,  and  believing  that  such  a 
system  too  long  and  generally  pursued  may  attract  a  wrong  class  of  candi- 
dates with  false  motives  and  inferior  qualifications,  and  may  also  repel  another 
class  (unwarrantably,  it  is  true,  but  yet  as  the  actual  experience  of  the  church) ; 
believing,  also,  that  in  this  Southern  confederacy  young  men  of  suitable  gifts 
can,  in  most  cases,  without  injurious  delay,  pay  their  own  expenses  in  study 
by  teaching  and  other  useful  pursuits,  or  by  winning  in  fair  competition  cer- 

western  Advisory  Committee ;  Columbia  was  made  the  second  seat  as  a  place 
relatively  safe  during  the  war,  and  to  suit  the  convenience  of  Dr.  Wilson, 
the  secretary  of  the  committee,  as  that  of  Foreign  Missions  also,  which  was 
located  there.  Baltimore  was  sought,  among  other  reasons,  on  the  ground 
of  its  being  a  great  commercial  center.  Atlanta  had  that  argument  in  its 
favor,  in  addition  to  its  being  nearer  to  the  center  of  the  Home  Mission 
field. 


388 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


tain  bursaries  or  scholarships  that  might  be  provided  at  our  seats  of  learning; 
and  that  in  a  few  cases  imperatively  needing  help,  private  hands  or  individual 
churches  might  more  intelligently  and  watchfully  bestow  it — this  Presbytery 
hereby  overtures  the  Assembly  to  appoint  a  committee,  at  its  approaching 
session,  to  revise  the  whole  subject  of  beneficiary  education,  and  to  report  to 
the  General  Assembly  next  ensuing.1 

In  reply  to  this  overture,  the  Assembly  declared  that 
nothing  short  of  the  most  cogent  reasons  would  justify  so 
early  an  abandonment,  or  even  any  important  modifica- 
tion, of  a  scheme  which  had  been  incorporated  with  the 
original  structure  of  its  ecclesiastical  system.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  granted  that  the  Board  of  Education  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  had 
not,  previously  to  1 86  r ,  received  the  general  support  of 
the  Southern  portion  of  the  church,  and  affirmed  that  there 
was  considerable  dissatisfaction  with  the  counterpart  of 
that  board  in  the  Southern  Church,  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  Education,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  report 
on  the  subject  to  the  next  Assembly,  with  the  hope  that 
if  there  was  a  better  way  of  managing  this  valuable  agency 
that  better  way  might  be  discovered.  The  committee 
appointed,  of  which  Dr.  J.  R.  Wilson  was  the  chairman, 
presented  an  elaborate  report  to  the  Assembly  of  1864. 
It  confined  itself  to  a  discussion  of  the  question  whether 
that  "scheme  of  stipendiary  schooling,"  practiced  by  the 
mother-church  and  adopted  by  the  Constituting  Assembly 
for  the  church  of  the  Confederacy,  was  the  "  best  to  be 
continued."  In  answer  to  this  question  it  laid  down  as  a 
postulate  that:  "Every  candidate  for  the  gospel  ministry 
does,  in  sundering  the  ties  which  connected  him  with  secu- 
lar avocations,  so  far  dedicate  himself  to  the  service  of  God 
in  the  church  as  entitles  him  to  expect  at  her  hands  the 
education  which  he  may  yet  need  for  that  service;  and  he 

1  "  Minutes  of  1863,"  p.  127. 


COMMITTEE  OF  EDUCATION. 


389 


is,  therefore,  not  to  be  regarded  by  the  church,  or  by  him- 
self, in  the  light  of  an  object  of  charity,  but  as  a  laborer 
already  occupying  a  place  in  the  field  of  ministerial  duty."1 
It  took  the  ground  that  from  the  "  outset  of  the  minister's 
career — from  the  moment  when  he  first  put  his  hand  to 
the  plow  in  the  field  of  preparation — he  is  a  claimant,  not 
upon  the  church's  generosity,  but  upon  her  justice;  not 
upon  her  feeling  of  pity,  but  upon  her  sense  of  duty"; 
that  "  if  they  who  come  to  her  doors,  seeking  entrance 
into  her  ministry,  choose,  or  their  immediate  friends  choose 
for  them,  to  afford  all  needful  pecuniary  aid  to  help  "them 
onward  to  the  period  of  their  ordination,  this  is  another 
matter";  that  "the  church  may  accept  this  assistance, 
but  in  so  doing  she  is  simply  accepting  a  contribution 
to  her  treasury,  for  which  she  ought  to  be  grateful  "  ;  that 
"  she  has  no  authority  to  demand  it  "  ;  that  he  who  has 
been  "  distinguished  by  being  permitted  to  look  forward 
to  unusual  labors  and  uncommon  sacrifices,  and  it  may  be 
preeminent  usefulness,  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  may  well 
afford  to  inaugurate  his  career  by  casting  all  his  property, 
as  he  does  his'  talents,  into  the  effort  to  prove  worthy  of 
so  peculiar  a  distinction  " ;  but  that  "  the  point  at  issue 
does  not  lie  here  "  ;  that  "  it  is  not  what  the  candidate 
may  esteem  as  his  privilege,  but  what  the  church  must 
regard  as  her  duty." 

It  acknowledged  that  grave  difficulties  beset  the  system, 
but  held  that  they  were  not  insuperable  in  themselves,  nor 
fatal  to  the  system,  and  that  they  were  "  simply  insepara- 
ble adjuncts  to  it,  as  a  system  whose  working  has  been 
necessarily  intrusted  to  the  imperfection  of  human  wis- 
dom, and  is  applied  to  the  weakness  of  human  subjects."  2 

The  committee  closed  its  report  by  recommending  the 
adoption  of  certain  resolutions,  of  which  the  following  was 

1  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  p.  329.       2  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  pp.  320-22. 


390 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


the  first:  "  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assem- 
bly, it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  pray  unceasingly  to 
her  Head  for  a  large  increase  of  candidates  for  the  gospel 
ministry  ;  and  when  they  are  received  at  her  hands  it  is 
her  further  duty  to  provide  them  with  a  suitable  educa- 
tion in  the  way  of  preparing  them  for  their  work,  and  to 
provide  it  not  as  a  matter  of  charity,  but  of  justice  to  all 
parties  concerned."1  The  report  was  approved  and  the 
resolutions  adopted ;  but  as  the  committee  had  spent  its 
effort  in  discussing  the  relation  of  the  candidate  to  the 
church  and  in  proving  merely  that  the  church  was  morally 
bound  to  support  him,  the  Assembly  had  yet  to  answer 
the  question  whether  the  support  of  the  candidate  should 
be  provided  for  and  superintended  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly, or  by  the  Presbyteries,  or  in  what  way.  In  1866  it 
adopted  another  elaborate  report,  which  asserted  that  the 
plan  of  the  Presbyteries'  supporting  the  candidates  had 
been  tried  between  1806  and  1807  by  the  parent  church 
and  had  failed;  that  after  1807  a  modified  presbyterial 
plan  had  proven  unsatisfactory ;  that,  in  consequence, 
about  1820  three  great  organizations  were  brought  into 
existence  to  do  the  work,  one  of  which  was  the  Board  of 
Education ;  that  after  this  board,  modified  by  the  wakeful 
circumspection  of  the  fathers  down  to  1861,  the  Executive 
Committee  of  Education  had  been  formed ;  and  that  it 
was  unwTise  to  go  back  to  these  schemes  which  had  proven 
unsatisfactory.  In  conclusion  the  report  affirmed  that 
"  to  Presbyteries  must  always  belong  the  great,  the  bind- 
ing duty  of  recommending  candidates  for  support  from  the 
common  treasury  of  the  church  "  ;  that  if  they  failed  in 
this  duty,  if  they  were  loose  in  its  discharge,  if  they  thrust 
forward  beneficiaries  who  were  undeserving  an  educa- 
tion at  the  hands  of  the  church,  with  them  alone  lay  the 

1  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  p.  334. 


COMMITTEE  OF  EDUCATION. 


391 


blame,  as  to  them,  on  the  other  hand,  belonged  the  Mas- 
ter's commendation  for  searching  out  and  bringing  forward 
worthy  men  for  this  purpose ;  that  the  chief  responsibility 
of  the  committee  must  attach  to  its  one  great  office,  of 
judiciously  expending  the  education  funds  of  the  church, 
and  its  duty  of  keeping  the  Presbyteries  advised  of  the 
condition  of  the  work  it  was  prosecuting  for  them.1 

This  Assembly  remodeled  the  constitution  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  of  Education.  According  to  the  origi- 
nal constitution  the  Executive  Committee  had  "a  general 
oversight  of  the  diligence  and  deportment  of  those  who  are 
aided  by  it."2 

According  to  the  constitution  of  1 866,  "  no  student  shall 
be  supplied  by  this  committee  except  upon  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Presbytery  to  which  he  belongs,  or  its  Executive 
Committee  of  Education ;  and  all  candidates  shall  be  solely 
responsible  to  their  own  Presbyteries."3 

Much  that  was  justly  offensive  in  the  old  constitution 
was  removed  in  making  the  new.  The  new  constitution 
leaves  the  whole  responsibility  for  the  candidates  "  where 
the  constitution  of  the  church  places  it — in  the  hands  of 
the  Presbyteries."  The  committee  can  be  no  longer  "  es- 
teemed superior  to  the  Presbyteries,  clothed  with  authority 
to  revise  their  proceedings,  or  inquire  into  the  propriety 
thereof ;  but  is  simply  the  executive  agency  through  which 
the  Presbyteries  perform  this  part  of  their  work."4 

In  1875-76  another  attempt  was  made  to  substitute  the 
Assembly's  plan  of  stipendiary  education  by  remanding 
the  subject  to  the  Presbyteries.  But' the  attempt  did  not 
succeed.    No  better  plan  could  be  then  devised.  The 

1  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  75. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1861,"  p.  23.    The  italics  are  the  compiler's. 

3  "Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  34.  The  words  have  been  italicized  by  the 
compiler. 

*  "  Minutes  of  1868,"  p.  294. 


392 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  in. 


Assembly's  scheme  was  again  commended  to  the  confi- 
dence and  support  of  the  churches  as  the  best  practicable. 

By  the  Assembly  of  1893  tne  name  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  Education  has  been  changed  to  "  Committee 
of  Education  for  the  Ministry."  This  was  merely  to  con- 
form the  name  specifically  to  the  object  of  the  committee. 
No  concomitant  change  in  the  constitution  occurred.1 

The  support  which  the  agency  got  in  the  way  of  contri- 
butions between  the  years  1863  and  1866  was  practically 
nothing.  This  was  owing,  in  part,  to  the  fact  that  the 
fate  of  the  committee  was  in  suspense  during  the  first 
two  years  of  that  period,  and  in  part  to  the  poverty  of  the 

1  The  reader  may  readily  observe  that  the  Assembly  of  1864  adopted  a 
position  which,  though  indorsed  by  the  Assembly  of  1866,  was  untenable, 
viz.  :  That  the  church  is  bound,  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  candidate,  to 
educate  him  for  the  gospel  ministry.  If  so,  the  church  is  bound  to  treat  as  a 
minister  one  who  has  never  been  called  to  the  ministry  by  any  congregation 
of  believers,  and  one  who  may  never  be  so  called.  The  church  is  indeed 
bound  to  propagate  itself,  bound  to  raise  up  a  qualified  ministry ;  but  not 
bound  to  secure  it  in  a  given  way.  If  it  can  get  candidates  to  prepare  them- 
selves without  aid  by  the  church,  that  in  certain  circumstances  may  be  the 
preferable  way.  It  is  bound  to  God  to  secure  a  proper  and  sufficient  minis- 
try. It  is  not  bound  to  a  certain  candidate,  or  set  of  candidates,  prior  to 
contracting  with  them,  to  fit  them  for  the  ministry.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
candidate  for  the  ministry  who  feels  that  he  is  called  of  God  to  the  ministry, 
that  in  the  ministry  he  can  probably  serve  God  best,  is  bound  to  get  an 
education,  whether  the  church  will  help  him  or  not.  He  is  bound  to  God 
to  do  so.  Now,  if  there  is  a  great  need  for  ministers — so  great  a  need  that 
those  candidates  who  are  able  to  educate  themselves  do  not  suffice  to  supply 
the  lack — then  it  becomes  the  church's  duty  to  God  to  take  up  young  men 
who  feel  called  to  the  work,  and  are  determined  to  get  into  it,  but  are  held 
back  by  poverty.  Such  young  men  when  taken  up  are  not  eleemosynary 
students,  indeed.  They  are  not,  on  the  other  hand,  supported  as  a  matter  of 
justice  to  them.  They  are  supported  as  a  matter  of  worship  to  God.  They 
take  the  funds  not  as  charities  to  them;  they  take  the  funds  as  funds  which 
the  Church  of  God  is  bound  to  furnish  God,  that  he  may  get  ministers  from 
the  poor,  in  absence  of  a  sufficient  number  of  ministers  who  have  been  able 
to  help  themselves  to  an  education. 

This  seems  to  be  the  real  position  taken  by  the  Assembly  of  1875,  though 
it  did  not  distinctly  repudiate  the  position  of  1864  and  1866;  for  the  Assem- 
bly of  1875  indorsed  the  Assembly's  plan  as  good,  seeing  the  "  necessity  of 
beneficiary  education,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  ministers  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church."  In  fine,  the  constitution  of  the  agency  is  excellent. 
If  the  Presbyteries  would  do  their  duty  in  selecting  candidates  and  explaining 
their  true  relations  to  the  funds,  no  evil  consequence  would  follow. 


UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 


393 


church  and  her  multitude  of  crying  needs.  Thenceforth 
the  support  has  been  better. 

Though  not  at  all  connected  with  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  Education,  yet  because  they  are  a  part  of  the 
great  educational  forces  of  the  church  it  will  be  conven- 
ient to  take  a  brief  survey,  at  this  point,  of  the  theologi- 
cal seminaries  and  of  the  colleges  in  connection  with  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  as  well  as  of  certain  col- 
leges not  in  formal  connection,  but  really  recognized  fac- 
tors in  this  church. 

To  begin  with  the  seminaries,  there  are  six  such  in- 
stitutions within  the  bounds,  Presbyterian  in  origin  and 
patronage,  some  of  them,  however,  not  officially  known  to 
the  Assembly. 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  in  Virginia,  has  been 
until  the  present  the  most  important  of  these  institutions. 
It  was  formally  opened  January  I,  1824,  with  one  pro- 
fessor, the  Rev.  J.  Holt  Rice,  D.D.,  and  three  students. 
Funds  were  rapidly  raised  for  an  endowment.  In  1826 
the  institution  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the  General 
Assembly.  The  Synods  of  Virginia  and  of  North  Caro- 
lina, in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  took  the  place  of  Han- 
over Presbytery  in  governing  the  seminary.  In  1830-31 
the  number  of  students  was  about  forty  ;  an  additional  pro- 
fessor had  been  secured.  The  death  of  Dr.  Rice,  in  1831, 
the  troubles  in  the  church  which  culminated  in  the  divi- 
sion of  1837—38,  and  which  separated  from  the  seminary 
many  of  its  active  and  zealous  friends,  changes  of  profes- 
sors, and  other  causes,  conspired  to  retard  its  growth  and 
abridge  its  fullness  for  more  than  a  score  of  years.  Mean- 
while a  third  professorship,  that  of  ecclesiastical  history 
and  polity,  was  established  in  1835;  and  a  fourth,  that 
of  biblical  introduction  and  New  Testament  literature,  in 


394 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


1853.  Through  zealous  efforts  of  friends  its  endowment 
was  gradually  increased.  Its  funds  were  much  cut  down 
by  the  war;  but  it  soon  rallied,  and  has  been  making  a 
steady  growth  until  the  present.  The  last  report  of  the 
treasurer  (May,  1893)  shows  that  there  is  now  invested  in 
the  name  of  the  corporation  $303,298.24.  Besides,  the  in- 
stitution owns  about  eighty  acres  of  land  ;  five  residences  for 
professors ;  a  main  building,  which  contains  a  handsome 
chapel,  lecture-rooms,  dormitories,  and  a  refectory;  three 
additional  buildings  for  dormitories;  a  superior  library 
building,  with  a  fine  library  in  it,  and  a  gymnasium.1 
Between  1881  and  1891  a  chair  of  English  Bible  and  pas- 
toral theology  was  established.  The  annual  attendance 
has  steadily  grown ;  there  are  now  over  seventy  students. 
Some  of  its  distinguished  teachers  have  been  the  honored 
Dr.  George  A.  Baxter,  the  scholarly  Dr.  F.  S.  Sampson, 
"  the  profoundest  American  theologian,"  Dr.  R.  L.  Dab- 
ney,  that  most  clever  exponent  of  church  polity,  Dr.  T.  E. 
Peck,  and  the  distinguished  young  savant  Dr.  W.  W. 
Moore.  Dr.  B.  M.  Smith  reendowed  the  seminary  after 
the  war. 

Columbia  Seminary  was  established  in  1828,  by  the 
Synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  its  title  being  then 
"  The  Theological  Seminary  of  South  Carolina  and  Geor- 
gia." It  is  now  under  the  immediate  joint  control  of  the 
Synods  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  and  Alabama. 
Its  relation  to  the  General  Assembly  is  identical  with  that 
of  Union  Seminary,  in  Virginia. 

Classes  were  first  organized  in  1831,  with  Dr.  Thomas 
Goulding  and  Dr.  George  Howe  as  professors.  In  1833 
Dr.  A.  W.  Leland  became  connected  with  the  seminary, 
but  Dr.  Goulding  died  in  1834,  so  that  only  two  professors 

1  See  historical  statement  in  "  Catalogue  of  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
Virginia,  1892-93."  Compare  the  historical  statement  in  the  "  Constitution 
and  Plan  of  Seminary,"  published  in  1892. 


TUSCALOOSA  INSTITUTE. 


395 


remained  to  conduct  the  classes.  Save  for  another  brief 
period,  no  addition  was  made  to  the  staff  until  1849. 
From  that  time  till  i860  improvement  was  rapid.  In 
i860  there  were  five  professors — among  them  Dr.  James 
H.  Thornwell — and  over  fifty  students  in  the  seminary. 
From  1866  to  the  present  time  the  work  of  the  seminary 
has  been  carried  on  with  various  changes  and  interruptions. 

In  1863  the  property  of  every  kind  belonging  to  the 
seminary  amounted  to  $277,940.81.  Considerably  over 
half  of  this  vanished  with  the  Confederate  Government. 
The  seminary  subsequently  had  a  long  series  of  ups  and 
downs.  At  present  it  has  interest-bearing  funds  to  the 
amount  of  $2 10,000.  The  professors'  houses  and  seminary 
buildings  are  valued  at  about  $50,000.  The  library  is  a 
very  fine  one.  The  preeminently  great  name  among  its 
teachers  is  that  of  Thornwell. 

Tuscaloosa  Institute. — In  1877  this  school  was  estab- 
lished by  the  General  Assembly,  and  located  at  Tusca- 
loosa, Ala. ;  and  was  opened  for  work,  with  seven  stu- 
dents, the  first  session.  The  Executive  Committee  has 
been  authorized  by  the  Assembly  of  1893  to  move  the 
Tuscaloosa  Institute  to  Birmingham,  Ala.,  whenever  it 
seems  advisable  and  practicable  to  do  so  without  detri- 
ment to  the  cause  for  which  the  institute  was  founded. 
Birmingham  is  the  center  of  a  large  and  increasingly  in- 
telligent and  well-to-do  colored  population. 

The  institute  is  under  the  control  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, but  its  work  is  directed  by.  the  "  Executive  Committee 
for  the  Education  of  Colored  Ministers."  Its  actual  work 
and  discipline  were  conducted  by  that  devoted  servant 
of  the  church,  the  Rev.  C.  A.  Stillman,  D.D.,  and  chosen 
helpers,  until  the  present  session,  the  Rev.  A.  L.  Phillips 
being  now  superintendent.  The  whole  course  of  instruc- 
tion centers  about  the  English  Bible.    The  Standards  of 


396  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  are  faithfully  taught. 
The  sum  total  of  the  students  taught  in  the  institute  to 
the  end  of  the  session  1892-93  is  152 — 93  Presbyterians, 
45  Methodists,  and  14  Baptists. 

The  Divinity  School  of  the  Southwestern  Presbyterian 
University ,  at  Clarksville,  Tenn.,  was  organized  in  June, 
1885.  "  It  is  under  the  same  government  as  the  other 
schools  in  the  university,  viz.,  the  board  of  directors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Synods  of  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Memphis, 
Nashville,  and  Mississippi."  The  last  session  was  the  most 
prosperous  in  its  history,  there  being  thirty-three  students. 
Dr.  Joseph  R.  Wilson  was  the  first  teacher  of  theology. 

The  Austin  School  of  Theology  was  founded  in  1884  by 
that  distinguished  and  venerable  theologian  and  philoso- 
pher, the  Rev.  R.  L.  Dabney,  D.D.,  LL.D.  This  has  been 
an  incidental  labor  of  his  blind  old  age,  and  has  been  at- 
tended with  tremendous  difficulties,  but  followed  by  many 
blessings  to  the  church  in  Texas.  It  is  under  the  care  of 
the  Central  Texas  Presbytery. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Long  did  a  work  of  similar  character 
at  Batesville,  Ark. 

The  Louisville  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  has 
been  organized  during  the  present  year  by  the  associated 
Synods  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  It  is  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  General  Assembly  somewhat  more  imme- 
diately and  directly  than  Union  or  Columbia.  "  Should 
the  Assembly  see  reason  at  any  time  to  object  to  any  of 
the  acts  of  the  directors  or  any  of  the  other  authorities  of 
the  institution,  it  may  send  down  in  writing  to  the  direc- 
tors or  Synods  its  opinion  in  the  premises;  but  it  shall 
have  no  controlling  negative  except  in  the  election  or 
transfer  of  the  professors,  nor  right  to  originate  any  meas- 
ures for  the  seminary."1    According  to  the  constitution 

1  Article  II.  in  the  constitution. 


« 

WASHINGTON  AND  LEE  UNIVERSITY.  397 


of  Union  Seminary  the  Assembly  can  reach  the  seminary 
only  through  the  Synods.1 

The  control  which  the  Assembly  has  over  the  theologi- 
cal seminaries  was  formally  defined  by  the  Assembly  of 
1886  as  involving  such  jurisdiction  as  will  "  in  every  case 
enable  the  Assembly,  through  the  proper  channels  of 
authority,  to  keep  all  such  institutions  free  from  every- 
thing inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  system,  and,  of 
course,  free  from  all  teaching  inconsistent  with  the  Word 
of  God  as  expounded  in  our  Standards."2  Its  precise 
relation  to  the  individual  seminaries  "  differs  somewhat, 
according  to  the  constitution  and  practice  of  the  institu- 
tions as  ratified  by  the  Assembly."3 

The  following  colleges  and  universities  must  be  men- 
tioned, not  theological,  but  avowedly  or  virtually  Presby- 
terian in  their  character  and  management. 

Washington  and  Lec  University*  at  Lexington,  Va.,  was 
founded  in  1774,  on  the  nucleus  of  a  school  taught  by  the 
Rev.  John  Brown,  pastor  of  New  Providence  Church.  This 
was  an  eaterprise  of  Hanover  Presbytery.  It  was  subse- 
quently removed  to  Timber  Ridge,  and  later,  in  1 793,  to  a  site 
near  Lexington.  It  was  thenceforth  till  1797  called  "  Lib- 
erty Hall."  The  trustees  had  been  incorporated  in  1782, 
and  authorized  to  confer  degrees.  In  1797  Washington 
donated  to  the  institution  one  hundred  shares  of  "  James 
River  Canal  Company,"  which  the  General  Assembly  of 
Virginia  had  wished  to  give  him.  The  trustees  at  once, 
in  compliment  to  General  Washington,  changed  the  name 

1  The  corresponding  statement  in  the  constitution  of  Union  and  other 
seminaries  reads  :  "  Should  the  Assembly  see  reason  at  any  time  to  object, 
etc.,  it  shall  send  down  in  writing  to  the  Synods  its  opinion  in  the  prem- 
ises, but  shall  have  no  controlling  negative,  nor  originate  any  measures  for 
the  management  of  the  seminary." — "  Constitution  and  Plan  of  Theological 
Seminary,"  p.  10. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1886,"  p.  43.  3  md. 

4  See  historical  statement  in  "  The  Catalogue  of  Washington  and  Lee 
University,  1892-93,  Lexington,  Va." 


398  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


of  the  institution  to  Washington  Academy.  The  school 
thenceforth  grew  apace  in  usefulness  and  renown.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  the  institution  was  again  without  income 
or  credit,  but  under  the  presidency  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee  again 
burst  forth  in  a  rapid  career  of  expansion. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  in  1871  changed  the 
name  of  the  institution  to  its  present  corporate  title,  "  The 
Washington  and  Lee  University."  The  institution  has 
continued  to  grow  rapidly.  It  now  has  an  invested  en- 
dowment of  $630,999.78,  yielding  an  annual  income  of 
$36,519.97.  It  has  an  able  faculty  of  thirteen  full  pro- 
fessors and  six  instructors,  and  two  hundred  and  forty- 
one  students. 

The  institution  has  been  separated  from  all  formal  rela- 
tions with  the  church ;  nevertheless,  it  has  still  in  its  board 
of  trustees  and  its  faculty  a  very  large  majority  of  Presby- 
terians, and  it  is  one  of  the  principal  feeders  of  the  Pres- 
byterian ministry  in  Virginia. 

Hampden  Sidney  College,  in  Prince  Edward  County, 
Va.,  was  opened  in  1775-76.  It  owes  its  origiri  to  Chris- 
tian patriotism.  Hanover  Presbytery,  the  sole  representa- 
tive of  the  Presbyterian  faith  and  order  in  all  Virginia  and 
her  western  territory,  whose  members  in  1774  did  not 
exceed  ten,  determined  to  establish  a  school  also  for  the 
Piedmont  and  South  Side  regions  of  Virginia.  The  Rev. 
Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  had  been  the  most  zealous  pro- 
moter of  the  enterprise.  He  became  its  first  president 
and  organizer. 

The  college  obtained  a  most  liberal  charter  in  1  783,  and 
has  enjoyed  "an  illustrious  career  of  usefulness."  Long 
lists  of  distinguished  statesmen,  judges,  professors,  and 
ministers  whom  she  has  schooled  might  be  given.  Her 
sixth  president,  Rev.  Moses  Hoge,  D.D.,  1807-20,  was  by 
appointment  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia  professor  of  theol- 


DAVIDSON  COLLEGE. 


399 


ogy ;  and  out  of  the  want  thus  supplied  and  enlarged 
sprang  the  demand  which  was  and  could  only  be  satisfied 
by  the  establishment  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  in 
1824.  The  college  is  not  rich,  but  has  always  maintained 
a  high  grade  of  scholarship,  and  has  exerted  a  peculiarly 
ennobling  and  refining  influence  on  the  students.  At 
present  the  teaching  force  numbers  eight  men:  six  full 
professors,  one  assistant  professor,  and  one  fellow.  The 
students  number  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  en- 
dowment is  sufficient  for  an  economical  support.  The 
president,  the  Rev.  Richard  Mcllwaine,  D.D.,  with  tireless 
energy  and  good  success,  is  bringing  the  college  forward 
day  by  day,  by  new  buildings,  new  appliances,  etc. 

Davidson  College,  in  Mecklenburg  County,  N.  C,  was 
founded  in  1837.  It  was  at  first  opened  as  a  manual  labor 
institution,  but  the  plan  did  not  prove  workable.  Accord- 
ing to  the  constitution  of  the  college,  no  one  is  eligible  as 
trustee,  professor,  or  teacher  who  is  not  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  During  all  the  years  of  its  course 
it  has  been  remarkable  for  its  able  faculty ;  it  has  stim- 
ulated a  thorough  scholarship.  Among  its  alumni  are 
many  distinguished  men  in  secular  life.  More  than  one 
third  of  its  graduates  have  entered  the  ministry.  The 
college  is  under  the  control  of  a  board  of  trustees  ap- 
pointed by  the  Presbyteries  of  the  Synods  of  North  Caro- 
lina, South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida.1  The  faculty 
contains  ten  professors  and  instructors.  The  student 
body  numbers  one  hundred  and  fifty-three.2  The  endow- 
ment amounts  to  $109,000. 

Southwestern  Presbyterian  University. — A  meeting. of 
commissioners  from  five  Synods,  viz.,  Alabama,  Missis- 

1  Compare  Semi-Centenary  Addresses,  Davidson  College,  1887.  Raleigh, 
X.  C.  :  E.  M.  Uzzel,  Steam  Printer  and  Binder,  1888.  See  especially  Dr. 
Rumple's  Address. 

2  Session  of  1892-93.    See  "  Catalogue  of  1892-93." 


400 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


sippi,  Arkansas,  Nashville,  and  Memphis,  had  been  held  in 
May,  1873,  to  plan  for  a  great  common  university.  The 
plan  formed  was  adopted  by  their  several  Synods  and 
by  the  Synod  of  Texas,  and  they  appointed  two  directors 
each.  In  1874,  after  receiving  many  applications  for  the 
university,  they  finally  fixed  upon  Clarksville  as  the  place, 
and  Stuart  College,  which  was  already  a  school  of  local 
repute,  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of  Nashville,  as  the 
nucleus  of  further  operations. 

In  June,  1879,  the  board  of  directors  abolished  the  cur- 
riculum and  reorganized  the  school  on  the  plan  of  coordi- 
nate schools  and  elective  courses.  The  endowment  affords 
an  economical  support.  The  faculty,  including  the  profes- 
sors of  the  divinity  school,  consists  of  nine  full  professors. 
The  attendance  of  students  during  the  session  1892-93 
was  one  hundred  and  thirty-five.  A  distinguished  feature 
of  the  plan  of  the  university  is  that  "  in  connection  with 
every  course  there  shall  be  comprehensive  and  faithful 
biblical  training,  so  as  to  make  an  intelligent  Scriptural 
faith  a  controlling  principle  in  the  university." 

Central  University. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  of 
Kentucky  in  187 1  resolutions  were  passed  looking  to  the 
immediate  endowment  and  equipment  of  a  college.  The 
Synod  had  despaired  of  regaining  its  rights  in  Center 
College ;  but  a  new  movement  rose  out  of  the  general 
conviction  in  the  minds  of  men  of  intelligence  that  there 
was  need  of  a  university.  A  number  of  the  alumni  of 
Center  College,  and  friends  of  learning  and  of  the  church, 
met  in  convention  at  Lexington  on  the  7th  of  May, 
1872,  organized  themselves  into  a  permanent  associa- 
tion, and  on  the  following  day  tendered  to  the  Synod 
their  cooperation  for  establishing  such  an  institution.  The 
offer  was  accepted.  A  charter  was  agreed  upon  by  the 
joint  committee  of  the  Synod  and  the  association,  and  was 


WESTMINSTER  COLLEGE. 


40I 


adopted  by  the  two  bodies  severally.  "  By  the  charter 
the  donors  of  the  endowment  own  and  control  the  univer- 
sity under  the  title  of  '  The  Central  University,'  and  they 
elect  their  successors  from  among  the  alumni  of  the  insti- 
tution and  its  liberal  benefactors."  Two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  were  soon  subscribed,  and  this  was  regarded  as  suf- 
ficient to  justify  the  opening  of  the  school.  The  university 
opened  its  first  session  in  1874;  with  varying  fortunes,  it 
has  had  on  the  whole  an  unusual  career  of  expansion  and 
solid  usefulness. 

The  founders  of  the  university  aimed  at  a  university 
proper.  There  are  now,  in  addition  to  the  College  of  Phi- 
losophy, Science,  and  Letters  at  Richmond,  the  Hospital 
College  of  Medicine  and  the  Louisville  College  of  Dentist- 
ry, each  at  Louisville,  Ky.  The  faculties  of  these  several 
colleges  number  respectively  14,  18,  12;  and  the  student 
body,  201,  97,  46. 

The  Board  of  Curators  is  establishing  at  central  points 
in  the  State  university  high-schools.  One  of  these,  the 
Jackson  Collegiate  Institute,  at  Jackson,  Ky.,  has  two  hun- 
dred and  two  students.  Hardin  Collegiate  Institute,  at 
Elizabethtown,  Ky.,  another,  has  forty-six  students,  and 
there  are  others  in  successful  operation.1 

Westminster  College,  at  Fulton,  Mo.,  originated  in  action 
taken  by  the  Synod  of  Missouri  in  1849.  A  charter  was 
obtained  in  1853.  The  war  shook  the  college  like  a  cy- 
clone, and  swept  away  most  of  its  endowment.  In  1868 
it  had  only  about  $30,000  endowment,  which  was  bur- 
dened with  eighty  scholarships  affording  free  tuition  to 
as  many  students.  But  the  college  has  struggled  bravely 
on,  and  all  the  while  maintained  a  high  standard  of  scholar- 
ship.   Last  session  was  the  most  prosperous  in  its  history. 

1  "  Catalogue  of  1893,"  pp.  4,  5,  51,  52,  57,  59.  Z.  E.  Smith's  "  History 
of  Kentucky,"  pp.  422-551.  . 


402 


THE  SOUTH EKX  PRESBYTERIAXS.      [Chap.  hi. 


There  are  twelve  men  in  the  able  faculty,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Marquess,  Dr.  E.  C.  Gordon  being 
its  vice-president.  There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  stu- 
dents. The  endowment  amounts  to  about  $230,000, 
though  a  part  of  it  is  somewhat  encumbered  temporarily. 

Austin  College,  at  Sherman,  Tex.,  was  chartered  by  the 
legislature  in  1849.  In  1850  the  college  began  its  career 
at  Huntsville.  In  1876  it  was  removed  to  Sherman.  For 
a  long  time  it  was  overwhelmed  with  financial  troubles, 
but  it  has  now  emerged,  and  has  an  endowment  of  about 
$100,000.  Under  the  present  president,  the  Rev.  S.  M. 
Luckett,  D.D.,  the  patronage  has  increased  fourfold.  The 
institution  was  at  first  under  the  control  of  Brazos  Presby- 
tery. Later  it  passed  under  the  control  of  the  Synod  of 
Texas,  which  now  elects  the  members  of  the  board  of 
trustees. 

King  College,  at  Bristol,  Tenn.,  was  opened  in  1868,  "a 
child  of  necessity."  It  is  not  yet  out  of  the  financial 
throes  of  its  birth  and  earlier  years,  but  has  done  much 
good  work  for  the  church  and  state.  More  than  half  its 
graduates  have  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry.  Many 
of  them  have  reached  eminence  by  their  ability  and  schol- 
arship. Its  curators  are  appointed  by  Presbyteries  in 
Tennessee  and  Virginia. 

The  Arkansas  College,  at  Batesville,  Ark.,  received  its 
charter  in  1872.  Dr.  Isaac  Jasper  Long  was  its  first  self- 
sacrificing  president.  The  college  has  accomplished  a 
grand  work  for  the  church  and  state  in  Arkansas.  Prom- 
inent features:  solidity  and  thoroughness  of  the  work 
done ;  coeducation ;  prominence  of  the  Bible  in  its  teach- 
ing. More  than  a  third  of  its  graduates  have  become 
ministers. 

South  Carolina  College,  at  Clinton,  S.  C,  is  a  promising 
young  institution. 


PI  PLICATION. 


403 


Many  female  schools  are  doing  their  beneficent  work 
for  the  church  and  for  the  homes  throughout  the  land. 
Some  of  these  are  avowedly  Presbyterian  and  under  the 
oversight  of  Presbyteries.  Some  of  them,  while  not  form- 
ally Presbyterian,  are  really  so.  There  are  also  many 
Presbyteral  academical  schools.  There  has  been  some 
little  discussion  as  to  the  right  of  the  church  to  establish 
Presbyteral  schools,  colleges,  and  the  like.  But  the  con- 
secrated good  sense  of  the  people,  and  the  demand  which 
the  Scriptures  make  that  the  church  should  raise  up  an 
able  ministry,  have  carried  the  church  over  all  opposition. 

There  are  several  eleemosynary  institutions  under  the 
control  of  boards  of  trustees  appointed  by  church  courts. 
There  are  others  directed  and  supported  by  Presbyterians. 
One  of  the  most  widely  known  is  the  Thornwell  Orphan- 
age, at  Clinton,  S.  C.  This  is  under  the  care  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Wm.  P.  Jacobs.  It  is  without  resources  or  endow- 
ment, dependent  on  Him  who  clothes  the  lilies  and  feeds 
the  ravens.  It  has  under  its  roofs,  in  rearing  for  useful 
manhood  and  womanhood,  over  a  hundred  orphans.  Some 
have  already  left  its  walls  for  the  ministry.  One  is  a  mis- 
sionary in  Japan.  The  General  Assembly  has  undertaken 
a  "  Home  and  School  "  for  the  education  of  the  orphans 
of  Presbyterian  ministers  and  missionaries,  at  Fredericks- 
burg, Va.  The  school  is  well  manned,  and  solicits  the 
patronage  of  the  public  on  the  grounds  of  its  superior  ad- 
vantages. The  people  of  the  church,  sometimes  in  asso- 
ciation with  other  Christians,  have  opened  and  maintained 
retreats  for  the  sick  and  houses  for  the  destitute  of  all 
classes. 

4.  Publication. 
The  constitution  given  the  Executive  Committee  of 
Publication  in  186 1  remains  the  same  to-day,  with  the 
exception  of  an  unimportant  change  or  two.    For  the  sake 


404 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


of  convenience  in  the  transaction  of  business,  a  separate 
charter  of  incorporation  for  the  Committee  of  Publication 
was  obtained  in  1873-75.  The  separate  incorporation  was 
against  the  preferred  policy  of  the  church,  but  the  guarded 
terms  of  the  charter — forbidding  the  idea  that  the  corpora- 
tion could  ever  become  independent  of  the  church — and 
the  business,  convenience  rendered  the  church  contented.1 

One  of  the  first  heavy  calls  upon  the  committee  was  for 
literature  for.  the  army.  In  1863-64  it  published  fifteen 
thousand  copies  of  an  army  hymn-book.  In  addition  to 
tracts,  it  put  into  circulation  in  the  army  over  fifteen  thou- 
sand volumes  obtained  from  the  Religious  Tract  Society 
of  London  and  other  sources;  and  it  published  "The 
Soldier's  Visitor,"  consisting  mainly  of  tracts  issued  in 
sheet  form  and  circulated  free  of  charge. 

It  has  been  the  duty  of  the  committee  from  1863  on  to 
make  a  judicious  selection  of  religious  books  wherever 
they  may  be  found,  and  stamp  its  imprimatur  upon  them, 
that  the  people  may  be  aided  in  helpful  purchases.  It  has 
a  respectable  list  of  its  own  publications,  too,  embracing 
the  imposing  works  of  Dr.  Thornwell  and  Dr.  Dabney,  as 
well  as  more  popular  works  of  scarcely  less  conspicuous 
men.  In  the  list  of  its  publications  are  to  be  found  some 
works  of  an  evangelical,  but  not  distinctly  denominational, 
character.  The  general  oversight  of  all  the  Sabbath- 
school  interests  of  the  church,  and  the  advancement  of 
the  work  in  all  practicable  ways,  has  been  laid  on  this 
committee.2 

It  has  been  a  special  work  of  this  committee  to  publish 
the  "  Children's  Friend,"  which  has  a  Sunday-school  feat- 

1  The  committee  has  always  been  located  at  Richmond,  Va.  The  secre- 
taries have  been:  Rev.  Wni.  Brown,  D.D.,  1861-63;  Rev.  John  Levburne, 
D.D.,  1863-65  :  Rev.  Win.  Brown,  D.D.,  pro  tern,  1865  ;  Rev.  T.  E.  Baird, 
i865-77;  Rev.  W.  A.  Campbell,  pro  tevi,  1877:  Rev.  J.  K.  Hazen,  1877 
to  the  present.  2  "  Minutes  of  1878,"  p.  651. 


COLPORTAGE.  405 

ure,  and  the  "  Earnest  Worker,"  devoted  since  1877  "ex- 
clusively to  the  exposition  of  Scripture  lessons  and  other 
subjects  promotive  of  Sabbath-school  work."  It  has  also 
issued  "  Lesson  Helps"  and  "  Lesson  Quarterlies  "  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  other  similar  publications.1 

During  a  considerable  part  of  its  existence  the  com- 
mittee has  had  the  burden  of  colportage  on  its  shoulders. 
In  1888  it  undertook  to  sustain  a  colporteur  in  each  Synod, 
a  committee  of  the  Synod  to  choose  the  colporteur  and 
take  the  oversight  of  the  work.  This  plan  has  been  in 
operation  from  that  time  to  the  present,  though  for  want 
of  funds  it  has  failed  of  entire  fulfillment. 

The  church  has  never  been  satisfied  with  the  small 
amount  of  colportage  work  done.  While  it  has  thrown 
the  burden  of  it  on  the  committee,  and  has  required  the 
committee,  in  addition  to  this  colportage,  to  make  gratui- 
tous grants  to  ministers,  churches,  and  Sunday-schools 
within  certain  limits,  it  has  not  given  a  large  and  kindly 
support  to  this  important  agency.  This  indisposition  to 
support  the  committee  has  been  owing  to  many  causes. 
From  1866  to  1877  the  work  was  badly  managed.2  When, 
however,  the  present  secretary  took  hold  of  the  work,  the 
course  of  its  history  entered  on  a  happy  change.  For  a 
good  many  years  the  work  of  colportage  and  the  gratui- 
tous distributions  of  publications  have  more  than  consumed 
the  annual  contributions  from  the  churches  to  the  cause ; 

1  "  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  cooperation  in  publishing  a  Sunday-school 
paper  with  the  Reformed  Church  in  America." — "  Minutes  of  1876,"  p.  222. 

2  From  November  1,  1866,  to  October,  1877,  the  cause  of  publication 
received  $125,441.01.  During  that  period  the  salaries  of  the  secretary  and 
other  employees  amounted  to  $70,229.17.  And  on  October  1,  1877,  the 
total  available  assets  of  the  Publication  Committee  amounted  to  $53,466.17, 
and  the  total  liabilities,  $39,993.58.  This  was  after  the  church  had  been 
working  for  years  to  endow  the  committee,  and  after  it  was  supposed  to  have 
an  endowment  approaching  $50,000.  The  committee  was  brought  to  this 
bad  pass  by  serious  mismanagement  on  the  part  of  the  secretary,  Dr.  Baird, 
who  seems  to  have  had  no  business  methods. 


406 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  hi. 


yet  the  secretary  is  able  to  report  in  1893  the  net  assets 
of  the  committee  as  $98,436.85. 

Probably  the  fact  that  the  publication  cause  is  now  so 
great  a  success  keeps  some  from  contributing.  Probably 
they  think  that,  seeing  it  is  on  such  good  footing,  it  should 
devote  a  larger  percentage  of  its  income  to  benevolent 
work.  Whatever  the  cause,  Dr.  Hazen  is  worthy  of  all 
praise  for  the  way  in  which  he  has  conducted  the  work. 

Though  not  under  this  committee's  care  in  any  sense,  it 
is  convenient  at  this  point  to  glance  at  the  journals  of  the 
church,  which  advocate  the  principles,  give  information 
concerning  the  work,  and  incite  the  'people  to  a  godly  zeal 
in  behalf  of  the  church.  Of  these,  mention  must  be  made 
first  of  the  weeklies — such  as  "The  Christian  Observer" 
of  Louisville,  "  The  Central  Presbyterian  "  of  Richmond, 
"  The  North  Carolina  Presbyterian  "  of  Wilmington,  "  The 
Southern  Presbyterian  "  of  Clinton,  "  The  St.  Louis  Pres- 
byterian," "The  Southwestern  Presbyterian"  of  New  Or- 
leans. There  are  others.  These  weeklies  are  edited  with 
varying  degrees  of  ability.  Each  one  is  devoted  chiefly 
to  building  up  Presbyterianism  in  its  own  region,  though 
striving  in  a  more  general  way  for  the  advancement  of  the 
whole  denomination,  and,  indeed,  of  the  whole  church 
throughout  the  earth.  The  church  needs  sadly  a  consoli- 
dation of  some  of  its  weeklies.  It  wants  one  great  weekly, 
fresh  and  able.  As  matters  are,  the  short  subscription- 
lists  of  most  of  these  papers  forbids  such  a  staff  as  the 
church  stands  in  need  of. 

"The  Presbyterian  Quarterly,"  edited  by  Dr.  George 
Summey,  assisted  by  Drs.  Strickler  and  Barnett,  is  pub- 
lished in  Richmond,  Va.  It  is  an  able  and  scholarly  pub- 
lication.1 

"  The  Union  Seminary  Magazine  "  is  doing  a  good  and 

1  Its  writers  are  drawn  too  largely  from  others  than  the  Southern  Church, 
however.    The  absence  of  publishers  and  the  poverty  so  general  throughout 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 


407 


growing  work,  and  coming  into  a  larger  degree  of  favor 
with  each  session.  It  is  designed  to  be  an  organ  chiefly 
for  the  faculty  and  students  of  that  seminary. 

The  Home  Mission  Committee  has  a  special  organ, 
"  The  Home  Missionary," 1  through  which  it  brings  its 
great  causes  before  the  people.  This  sheet  has  been 
much  improved  of  late.  The  Foreign  Mission  Committee 
at  Nashville  issues  "The  Missionary,"  one  of  the  ablest  of 
missionary  publications. 

The  earnestness  of  the  Assembly  in  the  support  of  all 
the  agencies  whose  review  we  have  now  completed  is  evi- 
denced by  a  host  of  practical  enactments,  touching  the 
duty  of  Presbyteries  to  incite  all  their  churches  to  con- 
tribute to  all  the  causes,  touching  the  duty  of  ministers  to 
enlighten  their  people  on  the  grace  and  duty  of  giving, 
touching  times  and  modes  of  collections,  etc.2 

5.  The  Charter  of  the  Assembly. 

The  form  of  the  charter  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Assembly  sought  in  1861,  obtained  in  1866  from  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  has  already  been  indicated.3  It  was 
amended  in  1871-72  so  as  to  enable  the  trustees  to  hold 
the  funds  which  might  be  contributed  for  the  relief  of  the 
widows  and  children  of  deceased  ministers,  and  for  other 
eleemosynary  objects  of  the  church.  The  several  execu- 
tive committees  of  the  General  Assembly,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Executive  Committee  of  Publication,  have  no 
separate  corporate  existence  to  this  day.  The  board  of 
trustees  holds  all  the  property  of  the  General  Assembly.4 

the  bounds  of  the  church  have  not  encouraged  writing  for  publication,  even 
in  a  relatively  permanent  form.  The  review  writers  should  be  discovered 
and  developed. 

1  Published  at  Atlanta,  Ga. 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  301-317.       3  See  Chapter  IT.,  p.  346. 

4  The  practical  relations  between  the  board  of  trustees  and  the  com- 
mittees maybe  defined  as  follows:  "When  the  trustees  shall  receive  any 


4o8 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.     [Chap.  hi. 


6.  Volitntary  Agencies. 

The  theoretical  position  of  the  church  as  a  whole  has 
been  that  the  church,  properly  organized,  is  alone  the 
divinely  instituted  and  sufficient  agency  for  the  evangeli- 
zation of  the  world.  As  to  societies  without  the  church, 
if  they  do  not  undertake  functions  which  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  church,  and  if  their  objects  and  methods 
are  morally  and  religiously  good,  they  may  be  approved. 
Accordingly  the  Assembly  indorsed  the  National  Bible 
Society  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  has,  since  1866, 
cordially  commended  the  American  Bible  Society  to  the 
ministers  and  churches,  and  recommended  contributions 
to  it.1 

On  the  subject  of  young  people's  societies,  missionary 
societies,  etc.,  there  has  of  late  years  been  much  talk.  The 
present  trend  of  thought  is  in  the  direction  of  "  societies 
in  the  church  "  and  a  part  of  it — that  is,  a  perfected  organ- 
gift,  devise,  or  bequest  without  direction  from  the  donor  as  to  the  particular 
use  or  charity  for  which  it  is  designed,  the  same  shall  be  retained  by  them 
until  the  meeting  of  the  next  General  Assembly.  When  the  donor  declares 
the  particular  use  and  the  manner  of  its  use,  the  trustees  shall  pay  over  the 
same  to  the  appropriate  committees." — "  Minutes  of  1873,"  p.  321. 

"  When  a  bequest  has  been  made  to  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  paid  to 
two  or  more  of  the  executive  committees  of  the  church,  and  the  terms  of  the 
bequest  do  not  specify  the  proportion  according  to  which  the  amount  of 
the  bequest  shall  be  divided  among  the  committees,  the  board  of  trustees  is 
authorized  and  instructed  to  divide  the  amount  between  the  several  executive 
committees  for  whom  the  bequest  is  intended  according  to  the  proportion  of 
the  annual  contribution  of  the  churches  (excluding  legacies)  to  these  com- 
mittees for  the  three  years  next  preceding  the  time  when  the  amount  is 
divided."—"  Minutes  of  1886,"  p.  55. 

1  The  precise  attitude  of  the  church  toward  this  society  may  be  clearly 
seen  in  an  excerpt  from  a  report  of  a  committee  made  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  1866,  in  regard  to  the  church's  relation  to  voluntary  associations, 
which  reads  as  follows  :  "Although  it  is  the  opinion  of  your  committee  that 
this  society  ought  to  be  composed  of  representatives  of  different  churches, 
appointed  through  their  constitutional  forms,  yet  as  there  is  nothing  in  its 
constitution  to  prevent  the  free  action  in  every  church  in  carrying  forward 
the  work,  and  as  its  organization  is  simply  for  the  printing  and  circulation 
of  the. Holy  Scriptures,  your  committee  recommends  its  countenance  and 
support." — "  Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  38. 


VOL  UN  TAR  Y  A  GENC1ES. 


409 


ization  with  every  member  of  the  church  in  such  relation 
to  the  whole  rest  of  the  members  as  to  be  brought  to  work 
and  to  do  his  work.  The  trend  is  against  "  societies  in  the 
church  but  not  a  part  of  it" — societies  which  straddle  this 
and  other  denominations,  or  which  cannot  be  made  to 
express  Presbyterianism.  The  church  believes  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  King,  that  his  people  are  his  servants, 
not  his  confidential  advisers,  and  that  the  future  of  the 
church  will  be  brighter  just  in  proportion  as  the  church 
follows  the  plan  of  the  Bible  church.1 

1  Compare  Dr.  C.  R.  Vaughan's  article  in  the  "  Presbyterian  Quarterly," 
July,  1893. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CHANGES  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION  AND   LIFE  OF  THE 
CHURCH. 

I.  The  Doctrine. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Constituting  Assembly 
declared  "  that  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Longer  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  the  Form  of  Government,  the  Book 
of  Discipline,  and  the  Directory  of  Worship,"  which  to- 
gether made  up  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  were  "  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America." 

The  church  has  continued  well  satisfied  with  her  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  Such  changes  as  have  been  made  at  all 
have  touched  only  the  accidents  of  the  Creed.  With  the 
heart  and  soul  of  the  Westminster  Confession  the  church 
has  been  so  well  pleased  that  while  other  churches  are 
trying  to  tear  the  very  liver  out  of  it,  this  church  has  been 
attempting  to  anchor  herself  more  securely  to  it.  Accord- 
ing to  the  mother-church's  Adopting  Act  of  1788,  the 
Form  of  Government  and  Discipline  and  the  Confession  of 
Faith  as  then  ratified  were  to  continue  to  be  the  constitu- 
tion and  the  confession  of  faith  and  practice,  unless  two 
thirds  of  the  Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  General 
Assembly  should  propose  alterations  or  amendments,  and 
such  alterations  should  be  agreed  to  and  enacted  by  the 
General  Assembly.1 

1  Baird's  "  Digest,"  p.  36,  §  16. 
410 


CONDITIONS  OF  ALTERING  THE  CONFESSION.  411 

In  the  Assembly  of  1861  an  overture  was  presented 
proposing  to  make  it  much  more  difficult  to  change  the 
constitution.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Revi- 
sion, and  does  not  appear  to  have  come  before  a  sub- 
sequent Assembly.  It  was  an  exaggerated  statement  of 
the  real  position  of  the  church.  The  part  of  the  overture 
relating  to  the  Confession  the  church  was  probably  ready 
for  in  1 86 1,  but  it  was  not  ready  for  that  touching  changes 
in  the  Form  of  Government.  However,  the  church  rested 
with  the  Adopting  Act  of  1788  until  1883,  when  the  As- 
sembly requested  all  the  Presbyteries  under  its  care  to 
send  up-  answers  to  the  following  questions  to  the  next 
Assembly :  "  Shall  Chapter  VII.  of  the  Form  of  Govern- 
ment be  amended  by  adding  a  third  section  to  read  as 
follows:  '  III.  Amendments  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
to  the  Catechism  of  this  church  may  be  made  only  upon 
the  recommendation  of  one  Assembly,  the  concurrence  of 
at  least  three  fourths  of  the  Presbyteries,  and  the  enact- 
ment of  the  same  by  a  subsequent  Assembly'?"1  A 
large  majority  of  the  Presbyteries  returned  an  affirmative 
answer,  whereupon  the  Assembly  of  1884  resolved  "  that 
this  amendment  be  and  is  hereby  enacted  as  paragraph  3, 
Chapter  VII.,  Form  of  Government."2 

During  the  years  1885-86  inclusive,  the  new  paragraph 
was  itself  amended  by  adding  to  it  the  following  words, 
viz.  :  "  This  paragraph  shall  be  amended  or  altered  only 
in  the  way  in  which  itself  provides  for  amendment  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Catechism  of  the  church." 
Thus  had  the  old  method  of  amending  the  Confession 
been  superseded  by  a  more  tedious  one.  A  similar  but 
more  moderate  change  had  been  meanwhile  wrought  in 
the  method  of  amending  the  Form  of  Government. 

While  the  formal  development  of  the  Creed  has  been 
1  "  Minutes  of  1883,"  p.  50.  2  "  Minutes  of  1884,"  p.  248. 


412 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS,      [Chap.  iv. 


next  to  nothing,  it  is  believed  that  in  a  thorough-going 
comprehension  of  the  great  truths  of  revelation  embodied 
in  the  Confession,  and  in  their  elaboration  and  defense,  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  has  taken  no  mean  part. 
To  prove  that  such  is  the  case  it  is  only  necessary  to 
mention  the  works  of  such  great  masters  in  theology  and 
kindred  departments  of  study  as  those  of  Drs.  J.  H.  Thorn- 
well  and  R.  L.  Dabney.  Dabney  has  irradiated  with  the 
torch  of  thinking  genius  almost  every  phase  of  theol- 
ogy, anthropology,  and  soteriology ;  and  Thornwell,  with  a 
chaste  splendor  of  diction,  has  illuminated  by  a  marvelous 
insight  many  of  the  perplexing  problems  in  theology  and 
in  anthropology.  Besides,  there  are  many  stars  whose 
shining  had  been  counted  brilliant  but  for  these  suns.  In 
the  department  of  exegetical  theology  Dr.  W.  W.  Moore 
is  justly  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  church. 

2.  The  Polity. 

The  church  undertook  to  revise  its  Form  of  Government 
and  Book  of  Discipline  as  early  as  1861.  The  Constitut- 
ing Assembly  appointed  a  very  able  committee  for  the 
purpose,  and  instructed  it  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly. 
The  church's  sense  of  the  need  of  revising  these  parts  of 
its  Standards  is  well  expressed  in  the  first  report  which  the 
committee  was  able  to  make  as  to  its  work.  That  report 
says : 

The  committee  are  deeply  impressed  with  the  desirableness  of  our  possess- 
ing as  a  church  a  more  scientific  statement  of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  church 
government  than  is  found  in  our  present  form.  The  subject  has  been  largely 
discussed  and  the  doctrine  much  developed  in  various  directions  since  our 
present  form  was  adopted,  and  the  book  is  no  longer  abreast  of  the  advanced 
stage  of  the  doctrine  as  it  is  actually  held  among  us.  For  example :  the 
book  does  not  contain  any  statement  of  what  are  the  radical  principles  of  our 
system,  except  a  very  imperfect  one,  introduced  in  a  mere  footnote.  Again, 
our  doctrine  of  the  courts  receives  no  adequate  presentation,  nor  is  anything 
found  in  the  book  respecting  the  duties  in  full  of  the  different  office-bearers. 


REVISION  OF  BOOK  OF  CHURCH  ORDER.  413 


Again,  the  evangelist  does  not  appear  in  any  part  of  the  book,  except  in  a 
clause  appended  to  the  chapter  on  ordination,  and  in  the  general  reference 
made  to  that  most  important  office  in  the  chapter  on  missions.  Then,  again, 
the  method  prescribed  in  the  book  for  setting  apart  ruling  elders  and  deacons 
without  the  imposition  of  hands  is  clearly  unscriptural ;  and  the  remarkable 
omission  cries  aloud  for  the  consideration  of  the  church.1 

It  was  owing  to  the  vicissitudes  of  war  that  this  report 
was  not  made  until  1864.  Along  with  it  was  handed  the 
draft  of  the  revision  so  far  as  the  committee  had  proceeded 
— the  Rules  of  Parliamentary  Order  and  Canons  of  Dis- 
cipline. Two  years  later  the  committee's  work  on  the 
Form  of  Government  was  completed.  Their  report  was 
adopted  and  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries.  A  very  large 
majority  of  the  Presbyteries  informed  the  Assembly  of 
1867  of  their  appreciation  of  the  labors  of  the  Committee 
of  Revision,  asked  to  have  the  results  of  their  labors  saved, 
but  emphatically  declined  to  adopt  the  revision. 

There  was  a  great  diversity  of  views  with  reference  to 
the  proposed  changes.  The  committee  was  therefore  dis- 
continued.2 The  church,  however,  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  old  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline.  During  the 
years  1869-73  another  effort  to  secure  a  revision  was 
made ;  but  this  effort,  too,  and  for  reasons  which  caused 
the  previous  failure,  was  destined  to  prove  a  miscarriage. 
The  results,  nevertheless,  were  again  stored  in  the  archives 
of  the  Assembly.3 

Finally,  between  the  years  1876-79  inclusive,  the  suc- 
cessful effort  was  made.  A  revision  was  accomplished 
which  met,  to  a  degree,  the  want  of  the  church  as  indi- 
cated in  the  report  of  the  committee  in  1864.  The  revi- 
sion is  on  the  whole  a  very  worthy  work.  Had  the  only 
result  been  the  erasure  of  the  unscripturally  broad  de- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  p.  24.  2  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  pp.  149  ff. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1869,"  pp.  377  ff.,  and  p.  396;  1870,  pp.  518  ff. ;  1873, 
p.  328. 


414  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  nr. 


markation  between  the  minister  and  ruling  elder  which 
the  old  book  made,  it  had  been  justified;  but  the  new 
makes  a  fairly  adequate  statement  of  the  ruling  elder's 
rights  and  duties.  It  brings  out  with  greatly  increased 
clearness  the  deacon's  duties  and  relations,  and  magnifies 
his  office  after  a  biblical  fashion.  It  recognizes  at  least 
quasi  deaconesses,  which  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction. 
If  women  had  always  been  accorded  the  privilege  of  so 
serving  the  church,  there  might  be  less  of  obnoxious 
womanism  among  the  churches  to-day.  It  articulately 
asserts  that  the  church  is  the  "  agency  which  Christ  has 
ordained  for  the  edification  and  government  of  his  people, 
for  the  propagation  of  the  faith,  and  the  evangelization  of 
the  world."  As  this  is  the  biblical  and  correct  position, 
the  church  was  doing  much  to  become  able  to  take  subse- 
quently the  correct  attitude  toward  the  hosts  of  partial 
substitutes  for  the  church  which  well-meaning  but  precipi- 
tate, rash,  and  irreverent  men  have  proposed. 

Some  amendments  to  the  paragraph  on  the  evangelist 
might  well  be  made,  however.  The  church  is  somewhat 
hampered  by  the  limited  powers  accorded  this  officer  in 
the  foreign  field. 

The  revised  book  is  more  distinctly  Presbyterian,  and 
issued  from  a  more  solid  conviction  of  jure  divino  Presby- 
terianism,  than  the  old  book.  Occasional  but  not  substan- 
tive amendments  to  the  revised  book  have  been  made 
from  time  to  time  since  its  adoption. 

Of  the  men  who  have  watched  and  directed  the  devel- 
opment of  church  polity,  special  mention  must  be  made 
of  the  names  of  Drs.  J.  H.  Thornwell,  B.  M.  Palmer,  and 
T.  E.  Peck.  To  Thornwell  is  due  credit  for  the  full  recog- 
nition of  the  rights  of  the  ruling  elder.  Palmer  has  kept  be- 
fore the  church  the  truth  that  the  tenet  of  the  headship  of 
Christ  involves  the  doctrine  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  or- 


FORMS  OF  PRAYER— REVISION  OF  DIRECTORY.  415 

dained  church  and  the  impiety  of  any  substitution  therefor. 
Dr.  Peck  and  Dr.  Vaughan  have  done  special  service  in 
bringing  to  light  the  functions  of  the  diaconate. 

3.  The  Worship. 

The  external  worship  of  the  church  has  changed  but 
little.  Here  and  there  in  the  church  there  is  an  observa- 
ble tendency  toward  a  less  simple  worship ;  and  respon- 
sive readings  and  prayers  in  which  the  congregations  take 
oral  part,  elaborate  and  unworshipful  music,  etc.,  come  into 
vogue.    This  is  very  rare. 

In  1864-65  Colonel  J.  T.  L.  Preston,  of  Lexington,  Va., 
and  others  endeavored  to  have  introduced  into  the  Direc- 
tory of  Worship  "  a  few  Scriptural  and  well-considered 
forms  of  prayer,  requiring  responses  on  the  part  of  the 
congregation,  the  use  of  such  forms  to  be  optional  on  the 
part  of  the  pastors."  The  attempt  met  with  overwhelm- 
ing defeat;  and  though  repeated  in  1872,  it  found  its 
Waterloo  in  the  same  year.  This  has  been  the  most 
prominent  effort  looking  toward  a  liturgy.  Mention  may, 
however,  be  made  of  the  effort  to  have  "  a  directory  of 
the  oblations"  prepared,  in  1868,  and  of  that  to  have  a 
burial  service  prepared,  in  1880.  But  the  tendency  to- 
ward forms  of  worship  has  been  very  small,  unless  you 
see  in  the  desire  to  revise  the  old  Directory  unrest  with 
its  simplicity,  which  is  not  very  probably  true. 

As  early  as  1864  inquiry  was  made  as  to  whether  it 
was  then  expedient  to  revise  the  Directory  of  Worship. 
The  work  was  never  undertaken,  however,  in  earnest  till 
1879,  at  which  time  the  revision  of  the  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment and  the  Book  of  Discipline  had  been  completed. 
The  Assembly  of  1879  appointed  an  able  committee,  which 
was  once  reconstituted,  was  succeeded  by  an  equally  able 
committee,  which  in  its  turn  was  reconstituted.  This 


4i6 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [CHAP.  IV. 


committee  gave  place  in  1892  to  a  new  committee,  the 
work  of  which,  as  modified  by  the  last  Assembly's  criti- 
cism, is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Presbyteries,  for  their 
reception  or  rejection,  and  will  probably  be  adopted. 

The  revised  Directory  remains  entirely  a  directory.  It 
is  not  more  a  book  of  prescribed  forms  than  before.  Its 
superiority  over  the  old  is  in  its  more  copious  suggestions, 
especially  about  the  public  profession  of  religion  by  new 
converts  and  about  administering  baptism. 

The  church  has  shown  a  praiseworthy  zeal  in  improving 
its  selections  of  hymns  and  Psalms.1 

It  is  believed  that  the  spirit  of  worship  has  not  declined 
during  the  church's  independent  history.  There  seems, 
on  the  contrary,  evidence  to  prove  that  it  has  deepened, 
that  worship  is  viewed  more  as  something  which  is  ex- 
pressed by  the  output  of  the  life.  To  illustrate :  Giving 
as  an  act  of  worship  is  kept  in  the  forefront  of  the  church 
to-day.  Dr.  T.  E.  Peck  had  this  burden,  also,  of  the  Lord 
for  his  people  and  students.  This  instance  is  typical. 
Worship  is  regarded  generally  as  intended  service. 

The  meaning  and  nature  of  the  sacraments  have  been 
kept  in  tolerable  clearness  before  the  people.2  The  pro- 
priety of  special  prayer  and  fasting  on  occasion  has  con- 
tinued to  be  the  common  belief.3  'But  it  must  be  said 
that  the  church's  attitude  toward  the  Sabbath  is  not 
worthy.  Her  great  teachers  and  her  courts  have  uttered 
no  uncertain  sound.    Few  churches  have  had  such  stanch 

1  It  revised  its  "  Hymn-Book"  between  1861  and  1866;  revised  and  pub- 
lished its  "  Hymn  and  Tune  Book"  by  1873.  In  1882,  as  many  of  the  con- 
gregations had  begun  to  use  the  "  Hymns  and  Tunes  "  of  Dr.  C.  S.  Robinson, 
the  Assembly  placed  its  imprimatur  on  that  book.  (Alexander's  "  Digest," 
pp.  357-360.)  The  Assembly  of  1893  gave  a  similar  indorsement  and 
approval  to  Dr.  R.  P.  Kerr's  "The  Hymns  of  the  Ages."    ("  Minutes  of 

1893,"  P-  ISO 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  345-354. 

3  PP-  355,  356- 


TEMPT  A  77  OX  TO  LAX  LIFE. 


417 


defenders  of  the  Sabbath.1  But  the  Sunday  newspapers, 
Sunday  mails,  and  Sunday  railroad  trains,  etc.,  have  had 
an  influence  as  potent  as  pernicious ;  and  the  protests 
which  the  church  courts  and  preachers  have  made  against 
Sabbath  desecration  are  monuments  of  very  considerable 
dereliction  in  respect  to  Sabbath  observances  on  the  part 
of  the  church-members.2  Nor  can  a  church  long  main- 
tain its  worshipf ulness  after  losing  its  reverence  for  the 
day  especially  set  apart  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  his 
worship. 

Family  worship  has  not  made  considerable  advance- 
ment, but  the  church  diligently  inculcates  the  duty,  and 
some  progress  is  observable. 

4.  The  Social  and  Moral  Life  of  the  Church. 

It  is  the  common  observation  that  war  and  pestilence 
are  followed  by  general  ungodliness.  A  priori  it  would 
be  expected  that  man  would  be  sobered  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  fellows,  and  led  to  set  his  affections  on  God  by 
the  evident  instability  and  insufficiency  of  all  creature  ex- 
istence ;  that  he  would  flee  from  the  carnage  and  chaos 
around  him  and  make  for  the  source  of  all  beauty  and 
order.  But  it  is  not  so.  The  harrowed  inhabitants  of  the 
land  cut  up  and  devastated  by  war  are  apt  to  betray  a 
fondness  for  trifling  and  belittling  amusements,  and  a 
slavish  grasping. for  the  meanest  muniments  of  temporal 
good. 

If  we  do  not  find  a  strong  tendency  to  worldly  amuse- 
ments and  to  dishonest  business  methods  in  the  South 
during  and  after  the  Civil  War,  and  during  the  horrible 
period  of  reconstruction,  we  shall  therein  remark  a  nota- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1863,"  pp.  16,  164;  1878,  pp.  628,  641  ff. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1890,"  p.  91  ;  1893,  p.  73  et passim. 


4i8 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  iv. 


ble  strength  of  character,  a  wonderful  work  of  God's  grace 
in  the  hearts  of  his  people. 

Were  we  disposed  to  reconstruct  history,  as  many 
writers  seem  inclined,  from  a  literal  acceptance  of  the 
protests  which  the  church  has  from  time  to  time  made 
against  these  forms  of  sin,  it  would  be  easy  to  set  forth  a 
very  gloomy  view  of  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterians  during  the  decade  1860-70.  But 
the  principle  which  forbids  our  seeing,  through  the  pro- 
tests against  concubinage  on  the  part  of  the  priesthood  of 
the  church  from  400  to  1200,  anything  but  universal  un- 
cleanness,  permits  us  to  see  much  of  the  highest  Chris- 
tian virtue  in  the  life  of  the  Southern  Church  during  the 
decade  named. 

The  Assembly  of  1865  felt  called  upon  to  speak  con- 
cerning the  prevalence  of  fashionable  amusements  and 
social  recreations  in  the  following  strain : 

The  Assembly  expresses  itself  with  more  earnestness  on  this  whole  sub- 
ject because  of  the  disposition  which  is  observed  in  all  parts  of  our  borders 
to  run  into  the  inordinate  indulgence  of  worldliness,  at  this  time,  in  forget- 
fulness  of  the  mighty  chastenings  of  God  which  are  even  yet  upon  us,  and 
because  we  see  members  of  our  churches  and  our  beloved  baptized  youth,  in 
forgetfulness  of  the  covenant  of  God  which  is  upon  them,  carried  away  with 
the  world's  delusions,  to  the  subversion  of  the  divine  influence  of  the  sanct- 
uary, and  to  the  neglect  of  the  interests  of  their  souls.1 

Again,  in  1869,  in  response  to  an  overture  from  the 
Rev.  Dr.  R.  L.  Dabney,  the  Assembly  "  earnestly  and 
solemnly  enjoined"  upon  all  the  sessions  and  Presbyteries 
under  its  care  the  absolute  necessity  of  enforcing  the 
discipline  provided  in  our  constitution  against  offenses — 
under  the  word  offenses  including  the  attendance  by  our 
members  upon  theatrical  exhibitions  and  performances, 
and  promiscuous  dancings,  against  intemperance,  and 
availing  themselves  of  the  expedients  for  evading  pecu- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  362. 


THE  SOCIAL  AND  MORAL  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  419 


niary  obligations  now  permitted  by  the  legislation  of  the 
country  in  such  a  manner  as  cannot  be  justified  by  a  con- 
science enlightened  by  the  Spirit  and  the  Word  of  God, 
and  must  dishonor  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ.1 

These  vigorous  representations  and  protests  against  the 
evils  specified  are  proofs  indeed  of  their  mournful  preva- 
lence, but  are  proofs  as  well  of  the  fact  that  there  was  a 
large  and  influential  element  in  the  church  most  watch- 
ful against  them.  It  is  a  marvel  that  the  people  of  the 
church  kept  from  frivolity  and  corruptness  as  they  did. 
Few  conquered  people  have  experienced  such  a  complete 
overturning  of  social  conditions.  A  people  of  as  great 
comfort  and  frugal  plenty  as  any  people  on  the  globe  en- 
joyed, perhaps,  were  thrown  into  the  hardest  conditions, 
and  had  a  long,  difficult  struggle  for  existence.  That  they 
did  not  grow  reckless  and  fall  into  bestial  misanthropy  and 
misotheism  is  the  highest  proof  at  once  of  their  own  virtue 
and  God's  goodness  to  them.  Southern  Presbyterians  of 
to-day  and  the  future  may  take  a  just  delight  in  the  hero- 
ically Christian  character  of  the  living  in  those  early  years 
of  the  church. 

But  not  even  with  changed  conditions  and  a  country 
again  prosperous  has  the  church  been  free  from  a  struggle 
on  these  subjects  of  dancing,  card-playing,  and  dancing- 
schools.  The  church  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  was  greatly  racked 
in  the  effort  to  discipline  such  offenses  in  1877-80.  And 
throughout  the  church  till  to-day  sessions  and  pastors 
have  had  to  fight.  Money-grabbing,  gambling  in  stocks, 
futures,  etc.,  have  come  to  be  fearful  and  prevalent  evils 
among  worldlings,  and  even  among  professing  Christians 
throughout  the  nation.  The  territory  of  the  Southern 
Presbyterian  Church  is  not  exempt.  The  church  even  has 
a  share  of  those  who  worship  mammon.    And,  further- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1869,"  p.  390. 


420 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.      [Chap.  iv. 


more,  these  evils  have  brought  other  evils  in  their  train — 
restlessness,  thirst  for  exciting  amusements,  morally  un- 
healthy living.  These  evils  are  naturally  more  widespread 
than  the  first  class.  Especially  is  this  true  in  the  larger 
cities.  Nor  have  the  church  rulers  in  all  cases  fought  well. 
Discipline  is  hard  to  administer — as  hard  to  give  as  to  re- 
ceive.  The  church  authorities  have  in  many  cases  shirked. 

Other  social  and  moral  evils  which  the  church  has  had 
to  battle  with — to  a  limited  extent  among  her  communi- 
cants, to  a  greater  extent  among  her  baptized  non-com- 
municants, and  especially  among  the  worldlings  about  her 
— are  intemperance  and  liquor-selling,  ordinary  gambling, 
and  profanity.  The  church  has  bewailed  and  protested 
against  profanity  as  a  national  sin  of  huge  dimensions,  has 
fought  it  in  the  pulpit,  and  has  to  a  considerable  degree 
lived  out  her  horror  of  this  sin.1  She  has  fought  gambling 
manfully,  rating  it  as  essentially  robbery  and  leading  gen- 
erally to  temporal  ruin.2  As  an  instance  of  the  stand 
made  by  the  church,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  heroic, 
drastic,  and  effective  measures  against  the  New  Orleans 
lottery  by  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer,  culminating  with  the  retire- 
ment of  the  company  with  the  end  of  the  year  1893  from 
the  United  States. 

The  church  has  been  strong  in  its  support  of  temper- 
ance, though  consistently  with  its  Standards  it  has  refused 
to  espouse  a  political  party  as  an  advance  movement  in  its 
onslaught  on  intemperance.  Its  genuine  attitude  toward 
the  question  is  brought  out  in  a  paper  adopted  by  the 
Assembly  of  1892,  which  is  as  follows: 

Whereas,  we  recognize  the  liquor  traffic  as  an  aggressive  enemy  to  the 
home,  the  church,  and  the  state,  an  alarming  menace  to  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, and  a  powerful  obstacle  to  the  work  of  establishing  Christ's  kingdom 
in  foreign  lands  ;  and 

Whereas,  "  Sin  is  any  want  of  conformity  unto  or  transgression  of  the 
1  "  Minutes  of  1862,"  p.  36.  2  p.  38. 


ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  TOWARD  LYNCH  LAW.  42  I 


law  of  God,"  and  a  failure  to  manifest  disapproval  of,  or  opposition  to,  a 
prevailing  evil  is  a  sin  of  omission  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  reaffirm  the  deliverances  and  testimony  of  our  church, 
made  in  1891,  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  the  liquor  traffic,  and  abstinence 
from  intoxicants  as  a  beverage,  and  we  bear  our  testimony  against  the  estab- 
lishing and  promoting  the  traffic  in  intoxicant  liquors  as  the  fruitful  source 
of  sin,  crime,  and  misery.1 

This  stand  was  taken  against  "  the  liquor  traffic  "  as  it 
is,  of  course,  and  is  approvable. 

The  attitude  of  the  church  toward  lynching  and  other 
forms  of  mob  law  is  one  of  steady  opposition.  Her  people 
recognize  the  extreme  provocation  which  has  occasioned 
so  much  mob  violence  in  the  Southern  States — the  insuf- 
ficient penalties  affixed  by  our  statutes  to  such  crimes  as 
rape  and  arson,  and  the  tardy  execution  of  such  law  as  we 
have,  or  their  damnable  evasions.  Southern  Presbyterians 
recognize  the  great  provocations ;  nevertheless,  they  theo- 
retically and  in  general  practice  deprecate  at  once  the 
provocatives  and  the  outbursts  of  mob  violence.  They 
preach  and  live  commonly  against  it. 

Brighter  illustrations  of  Christian  living  than  are  found 
in  Southern  Presbyterian  homes  exist  nowhere. 

1  "  Minutes  of  1892,"  p.  462. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  RELATION  -OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  OTHER  BODIES. 

"  If  any  man  say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother, 
he  is  a  liar :  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen?"1 
The  Presbyterian  family  of  churches  has  been  wont  to 
recognize  brethren  in  the  numerous  evangelical  churches 
throughout  the  world.  These  churches  have  been  dis- 
tinguished for  a  liberality  of  posture  toward  the  other 
branches  of  the  Church  of  God  in  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
exclusive  claims  of  the  majorities  in  the  Episcopal  and 
Baptist  communions.  And  this  posture  toward  the  rest 
of  the  Christian  world  is  of  such  importance  as  affecting 
the  true  unity  of  the  Church  of  God  in  its  opposition  to 
the  world  that  it  deserves  particular  and  careful  treatment 
in  the  history  of  any  church. 

Having  set  forth,  therefore,  the  origin  and  the  historic 
development  of  the  Southern  Church,  external  and  in- 
ternal— its  growth  in  numbers  and  external  means  and 
muniments,  and  its  growth  in  doctrine,  polity,  and  life — 
it  becomes  our  duty  to  show  how  the  church  has  lived 
with  her  neighbor  churches. 

But  before  doing  this  we  propose  to  set  forth  the  re- 
lations which  this  church  has  maintained  with  the  state. 
These  relations  are  not  less  important  than  the  foregoing. 
If  a  church  be  united  with  a  civil  government,  one  of  two 
things,  as  history  establishes,  invariably  follows  :  the  church 
becomes  supreme  and  uses  the  state  as  its  servant,  thus 

1  I  John  iv.  20. 
422 


NON-SECULAR  CHARACTER  OE  THE  CHURCH.  423 


employing  means  and  methods  which  God's  Word  forbids ; 
or  the  state  becomes  supreme  and  prostitutes  the  Church 
of  God  to  its  own  service. 

Some  dreamers  to-day  talk  about  christianizing  the 
state.  This  can  hardly  be  done  before  the  millennium. 
Atheists,  infidels,  Jews,  and  hosts  of  other  Antichrist  men, 
are  too  frequent  in  this  country  to  have  a  state  essentially 
Christian  in  its  form  of  constitution  and  laws.  The  con- 
stitution of  our  state  may  and  should  be  theistic,  but  not 
Christian.  Hence,  the  true  relation  between  the  church 
and  the  state  should  be  that  of  respectful  and  friendly 
independence. 

1.  The  N071- Secular  Character  of  the  Church:  Its  Re- 
lations with  the  State. — The  reader  will  remember  that  in 
the  "Address  to  all  the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ  through- 
out the  Earth,"  issued  by  the  Constituting  Assembly  of 
1 86 1,  it  was  distinctly  affirmed  that  the  church  and  state 
occupied  provinces  entirely  distinct,  and  should  in  no  wise 
intermeddle  one  with  the  other.  And  the  theory  that 
these  two  ordinances  of  God  should  remain  in  friendly 
and  respectful  and  mutually  helpful  but  entire  independ- 
ence, has  remained  the  theory  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church — a  theory  which  on  the  whole  it  has  maintained 
well  in  practice.  In  a  pastoral  letter  issued  by  the  Assem- 
bly of  1865,  and  setting  forth  the  relation  of  the  church  to 
the  government  of  the  cowttry,  these  words  occur : 

During  the  prevalence  of  this  war,  "  the  higher  powers  "  actually  bearing 
rule  over  most  of  our  bounds,  and  to  which,  under  the  Word  of  God,  we 
were  required  to  be  "subject,"  were  the  government  of  the  Confederate 
States  and  those  of  the  several  States  constituting  it.  By  the  event  of  the 
war  the  first  has  been  overthrown ;  and  the  second,  as  constituents  thereof, 
are  changed.  The  "higher  powers"  now  bearing  rule  over  us  are  con- 
fessedly the  government  of  the  United  States  and  those  existing  in  the  States 
wherein  we  reside.  The  rightfulness  of  these  several  authorities,  and  to 
Which  of  them  the  allegiance  of  our  people  as  citizens  was  or  is  primarily 
due,  are  matters  upon  which  a  judicatory  of  the  church  has  no  right  to  pro- 


424 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


nounce  judgment.  The  relations  of  the  Church  of  Christ  to  civil  govern- 
ments is  not  one  de  jure,  but  de  facto.  As  right  and  good,  or  wrong  and 
wicked,  they  rise  and  fall  by  the  agency  and  permission  of  God's  providence. 
In  either  case  the  attitude  of  the  church  toward  them  is  essentially  the  same. 
As  long  as  they  stand  and  are  acknowledged,  obedience  is  to  be  enjoined  as 
a  duty,  factious  resistance  condemned  as  a  sin;  but  in  regard  to  conflicts 
between  existing  governments,  or  as  to  movements  in  society,  peaceful  or 
otherwise,  to  effect  political  changes,  the  church  as  such  has  no  more  con- 
trol over  them  than  it  has  over  the  polls  of  the  country.  If  it  has  authority 
to  uphold  on  the  one  side,  it  has  equal  authority  to  condemn  on  the  other ; 
if  to  suppress  a  political  movement,  then  also  to  instigate  it.  In  truth  it  has 
neither ;  and  to  assert  the  contrary  is  to  corrupt  the  church  in  its  principles, 
forever  embroil  it  with  the  strifes  of  the  world,  and  plunge  it  headlong  into 
ruin. 

Under  these  views,  and  considering  the  extraordinary  conflict  through 
which  the  country  has  passed,  as  well  as  the  extraordinary  circumstances  in 
which  it  is  now  placed,  it  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  exhort  you,  brethren,  to 
obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  submit  yourselves  ;  fulfill  with 
scrupulous  fidelity  all  your  obligations  to  the  government  of  the  land,  remem- 
bering the  duty  of  this  compliance,  "not  only  for  wrath,  but  for  conscience' 
sake."  For  so  is  the  will  of  God,  that  with  well-doing  you  may  put  to 
silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men.' 

In  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Correspond- 
ence, adopted  by  the  Assembly  of  1866,  are  found  the 
following  words : 

The  old  conflict  for  the  spirituality  and  independence  of  the  church  is,  to 
the  amazement  of  many,  renewed  in  our  day  and  upon  our  own  continent. 
The  battle  fought  generations  ago  by  the  Melvilles,  Gillespies,  and  Hender- 
sons of  Scotland  is  reopened  with  singular  violence,  and  the  old  banner  is 
again  floating  over  us  with  the  historic  inscription,  "  For  Christ's  Covenant 
and  Crown."  Upon  no  one  subject  is  the  mind  of  this  Assembly  more 
clearly  ascertained,  upon  no  one  doctrine  is  there  a  more  solid  and  perfect 
agreement  among  those  whom  this  Assembly  represents,  than  the  non-sec- 
ular and  non-political  character  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Whatever 
ambiguous  or  indiscreet  expressions  may  have  been  extorted  under  pressure 
of  extraordinary  excitement  from  individuals  among  us,  the  Assembly  of  this 
church  deliberately  reaffirms  the  testimony  given  in  the  solemn  "Address  to 
the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  Earth,"  issued  in  1861,  during 
its  session  in  the  city  of  Augusta.2 

1  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  pp.  382  ff. 

2  The  very  words  of  the  letter,  beginning  with  "The  provinces  of  the 
church  and  state  are  perfectly  distinct,''''  and  ending  with  the  words  "in  the 
world  of  matter,''''  are  quoted.    See  chapter  ii.,  this  sketch,  p.  349. 


NON-SECULAR  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CHURCH.  425 


[This  address]  commits  us  to  the  maintenance  and  defense  of  the  crown 
rights  of  the  Redeemer,  whether,  on  the  one  hand,  they  be  usurped  by  the 
state,  or  whether,  on  the  other,  they  be  renounced  by  any  portion  of  God's 
professing  people.  Summoned  thus  in  the  providence  of  God  to  contend  for 
the  same  principles  for  which  our  martyr  fathers  of  the  Scottish  Reformation 
testified  even  to  the  death,  and  which  the  fathers  of  the  Southern  Presbyte- 
rian Church  labored  so  earnestly  to  secure,  and  rejoiced  in  having  obtained 
their  full  recognition  by  the  civil  government  in  America,  it  would  be  most 
happy  if  all  those  in  the  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  family  who 
are  called  to  renew  the  protest  could  be  united  in  one  homogeneous  body 
for  the  reassertion  of  Christ's  regal  supremacy  in  and  over  his  spiritual 
kingdom,  the  church.  The  scattered  testimony  of  individual  witnesses  would 
deepen  in  intensity  if  gathered  into  one  volume  and  rolled  against  those  who 
would  place  the  crown  of  Jesus  upon  the  head  of  Caesar.  In  view  of  all 
which,  this  Assembly  would  tender  the  hand  to  all  who  are  of  like  mind  with 
us  as  to  the  doctrines  of  grace  and  as  to  the  order  and  discipline  of  God's 
house,  that  as  one  compacted  church  we  may  oppose  a  break-water  against 
the  current  that  is  sweeping  from  its  moorings  our  common  Protestantism, 
until  the  doctrine  of  the  church  as  a  free  and  spiritual  commonwealth  shall 
regain  its  ascendency,  not  only  over  the  Presbyterian  but  over  the  whole 
American  Protestant  mind.1 

1  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  pp.  30  ff.  Compare  the  letter  of  the  Synod  of 
Kentucky.  This  letter  to  the  General  Assembly  contemplating  union  was 
written  in  1867.  It  set  forth  the  principles  of  the  Synod.  The  General 
Assembly,  in  giving  it  a  place  upon  its  records,  assured  the  Synod  of  its 
"  substantial  agreement  "  therewith.    It  contained  the  following  words  : 

"It  is  therefore  not  only  incompetent  to  the  church  courts,  but  positively 
a  perversion  of  the  truth,  that  they  shall  assume  to  consider  any  questions 
than  those  which  relate  to  the  government,  order,  and  discipline  of  Christ's 
visible  kingdom,  or  to  determine  these  on  grounds  aside  from  the  Word  of 
God,  or  to  speak  in  Christ's  name  and  by  his  authority,  otherwise  than  to 
the  faith  and  conscience  of  his  people,  concerning  things  to  be  obeyed  as  en- 
joined by  the  law  of  Christ.  .  .  .  The  church  has  manifestly  no  commission 
either  to  discharge  any  functions  of  the  state,  or  to  direct,  advise,  or  assist 
the  state.  .  .  .  Therefore  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  tribunals  of  the 
church  to  exercise  the  authority  thus  delegated  to  them  by  Christ  in  deter- 
mining questions  merely  secular,  concerning  which  his  Word  makes  no  such 
determination,  is  to  usurp  the  prerogative  of  the  church's  divine  Master;  and 
practically  to  obscure  to  the  faith  of  his  people  the  doctrine  of  his  kingly 
office.  .  .  .  Hence  this  Synod  and  its  Presbyteries  have  steadfastly  protested 
against  and  resisted  the  assumption  of  authority  by  the  church  courts  to 
advise,  direct,  and  assist  the  civil  government  in  its  policy  by  the  exercise  of 
their  spiritual  authority,  or  to  interpose  the  power  of  the  spiritual  sword  for 
enforcing  any  theories  of  social  organization,  or  theories  of  labor,  or  political 
theories,  or  to  direct  men  as  citizens  in  the  choice  of  their  civil  polity.  .  .  . 

"As  to  the  functions  and  sphere  of  the  General  Assembly  and  other  courts, 
ihey  have  maintained,  and  desired  to  have  it  recognized  as  the  accepted 


426 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS. 


[Chap.  v. 


Concerning  the  relation  of  the  church  to  the  institution 
of  slavery,  the  "Address  to  the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ 
throughout  the  Earth"  had  set  forth  as  the  church's 
position  that  the  policy  of  slavery's  existence  or  non-ex- 
istence was  a  question  which  exclusively  belonged  to  the 
state ;  that  the  church  had  no  right  to  enjoin  it  as  a  duty, 
or  to  condemn  it  as  a  sin.1  In  the  pastoral  of  1865  the 
church  affirmed  that  the  address  referred  to  "contains  the 
only  full  and  unambiguous  and  deliberate  and  authorita- 
tive exposition  of  our  views  in  regard  to  this  matter";  it 
reaffirmed  "  its  whole  doctrine  to  be  that  of  Scripture  and 
reason."  After  quoting  at  length  from  the  Address,  the 
pastoral  letter  of  1865  goes  on  to  say: 

This  relation  is  now  overthrown,  suddenly  and  violently:  whether  justly 
or  not  justly,  in  wrath  or  in  mercy,  for  weal  or  for  woe,  let  history  and  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  decide.  But  there  are  two  considerations  of  vital  in- 
terest which  still  remain.  One  is  that  while  the  existence  of  slavery  may,  in 
its  civil  aspect,  be  regarded  as  a  settled  question,  an  issue  now  gone,  yet  the 
lawfulness  of  the  relation  as  a  question  of  social  morality  and  Scriptural 
truth  has  lost  nothing  of  its  importance.  When  we  solemnly  declare  to  you, 
brethren,  that  the  dogma  which  asserts  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  this  rela- 
tion is  unscriptural  and  fanatical,  that  it  is  condemned  not  only  by  the  Word 
of  God  but  by  the  voice  of  the  church  in  all  ages,  that  it  is  one  of  the  most 
pernicious  heresies  of  modern  times,  that  its  countenance  by  the  church  is  a 
just  cause  of  separation  from  it  (1  Tim.  vi.  1-5),  we  have  surely  said  enough 
to  warn  you  from  this  insidious  error  as  from  a  fatal  shore.2 

Such  were  the  "  well-considered  and  formal  views  of 
the  church"  up  to  1870.  The  church  has,  however,  once 
or  twice — and  according  to  the  judgment  of  her  critics, 

interpretation,  that  the  constitution  of  the  church  assigns  to  the  General 
Assembly  no  function  to  the  end  that  it  may  counsel,  direct,  or  assist  the 
civil  government.  .  .  .  That  neither  does  the  constitution  assign  to  the 
Assembly  any  authority  to  consider  and  determine  either  questions  of  the 
policy  of  the  state  touching  its  citizens,  or  the  duties  of  the  citizens  as  such, 
in  respect  of  the  policy  of  the  state;  or  questions  between  different  interpre- 
tations of  the  Federal  constitution." — "Minutes  of  1867,"  pp.  183  ff. 

1  "Minutes  of  i860,"  pp.  55  ff.  See  pp.  344  ff.  of  chapter  ii.  for  a  full 
statement  of  the  church's  position  in  1861,  in  its  own  terms. 

2  "Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  385. 


TRANSIENT  INCONSISTENCIES. 


427 


several  times — been  inconsistent  in  practice  with  her 
formal  views.  The  following  instances  of  real  or  appar- 
ent transgression  may  be  found  from  her  records. 

In  the  Narrative  of  the  state  of  religion  in  1862  it  is 
said : 

All  the  Presbyteries  which  have  reported  dwell  upon  the  absorbing  topic 
of  the  war  in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  .  .  .  [Again]  All  the  presbyterial 
Narratives,  without  exception,  mention  the  fact  that  their  congregations  have 
evinced  the  most  cordial  sympathy  with  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States 
in  their  efforts  to  maintain  their  cherished  rights  and  institutions  against  the 
despotic  power  which  is  attempting  to  crush  them.  Deeply  convinced  that 
this  struggle  is  not  alone  for  civil  rights  and  property  and  home,  but  also 
for  religion,  for  the  church,  for  the  gospel,  for  existence  itself,  the  churches 
in  our  connection  have  freely  contributed  to  its  prosecution  of  their  substance, 
their  prayers,  and  above  all  of  their  members,  and  the  beloved  youths  of 
their  congregations.  They  have  parted  without  a  murmur  with  those  who 
constitute  the  hope  of  the  church,  and  have  bidden  them  go  forth  to  the 
support  of  this  great  and  sacred  cause,  with  their  benedictions  and  with  their 
supplications  for  their  protection  and  success.  The  Assembly  desires  to 
record,  with  its  solemn  approval,  this  fact  of  the  unanimity  of  our  people  in 
supporting  a  contest  to  which  religion  as  well  as  patriotism  now  summons 
the  citizens  of  this  country,  and  to  implore  for  them  the  blessing  of  God  in 
the  course  they  are  now  pursuing.  [Again]  We  are  constrained,  however, 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  churches  to  the  fact  mentioned  by  some  of  the 
Presbyteries,  that  the  absorbing  interest  of  the  struggle,  in  which  we  are 
contending  for  everything  dear  to  man,  is  having  some  influence  in  lessening 
in  the  minds  of  God's  people  a  sense  of  their  spiritual  obligations.1 

The  report  on  theological  seminaries  of  the  same  year 
says : 

We  distinctly  recognize  the  right  of  the  state  to  claim  the  services  of  any 
or  all  of  her  citizens  in  this  time  of  need.  We  also  acknowledge  it  a  privi- 
lege as  well  as  a  plain  duty  for  our  people  to  pledge  each  other,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  their  choice,  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor, 
in  united  effort  to  drive  back  the  invaders  of  our  soil  and  the  enemies  .of  our 
institutions.  Yet  when  and  where  this  necessity  does  not  exist  we  think 
that  our  candidates  can  better  serve  their  generation,  and  do  more  for  their 
country,  by  diligently  preparing  to  preach  the  gospel.2 

1  "Minutes  of  1862,"  pp.  21  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  9. 


428 


THE  SOl'THERX  PRE  SB  YTERIAXS.       [Chap.  v. 


Somewhat  similar  faults  were  made  in  the  pastoral  let- 
ter of  1862,  and  in  the  Narrative  of  1863.1 
The  Narrative  of  1864  contains  these  words: 

One  and  another  message  has  come  to  us  from  the  field  of  deadly  strife, 
tilling  our  minds  with  the  deepest  solicitude,  urging  us  to  more  united  prayer, 
and  inspiring  us  with  profound  gratitude  to  God  for  the  repeated  repulses  of 
our  insolent  and  cruel  foe.  .  .  . 

Our  enemies  have  evinced  a  settled  determination  to  prosecute  their  enter- 
prises of  guilt  and  horror  in  the  face  of  all  the  disastrous  consequences  which 
must  ensue  from  this  insane  attempt  to  subjugate  and  destroy  us.  .  .  . 

The  wonderful  work  of  grace  in  our  armies  presents  the  strongest  encour- 

1  In  the  pastoral  letter  of  1862  it  is  said:  "  We  have  been  called  on  to 
witness  the  desolations  of  the  land,  and  to  mourn  over  the  waste  places  of 
Zion,  created  by  the  havoc  of  war ;  and  from  all  our  churches  we  hear  the 
report  that  the  ranks  of  the  armies  of  our  national  independence  are  crowded 
with  the  noblest  of  our  brethren  and  with  the  choicest  of  our  youth,  who  have 
rushed  to  the  rescue  of  the  republic,  driven  by  the  impulses  of  patriotism, 
and  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  God  and  of  our  country.  But  our  hearts  turn 
with  special  solicitude  toward  the  noble  youth  of  our  congregations  who  have 
gone  from  our  midst  to  this  bloody  contest  for  national  life  and  independ- 
ence. .  .  . 

' '  We  honor  you  for  your  self-denial  and  patriotic  zeal ;  we  would  love  to 
see  you  become  the  honored  instruments  in  God's  hands  in  leading  sinners 
to  the  Saviour.  ...  In  you  are  wrapped  all  the  hopes  of  our  church  and 
country.  With  the  solution  of  the  question,  What  are  you  to  become?  will 
be  determined  the  problem  of  our  national  glory  or  shame,  and  that  of  the 
success  and  usefulness  of  the  church  in  our  beloved  land.  We  tremble  for 
you  as  we  see  you  drawn  away  by  the  duties  of  patriotism  from  the  constant 
use  of  the  means  of  grace  and  divine  influence  of  the  sanctuary.  We  sympa- 
thize with  you  as  you  endure  fatigue  and  sickness  in  camp,  as  you  engage  in 
the  life-struggle  on  the  sanguinary  field,  and  as  you  consecrate  everything 
dear  on  earth  on  the  altar  of  patriotic  duty." — "Minutes  of  1862,"  pp.  35  ff. 

The  Narrative  of  1863  says:  "During  the  period  which  has  elapsed  since 
the  last  annual  session  of  this  body,  our  unhappy  country  has  been  the  thea- 
ter of  a  war  unexampled,  perhaps,  in  the  scope  of  its  operations,  of  the  vast 
numbers  engaged,  and  of  the  pitiless  barbarity  with  which  it  has  been  con- 
ducted on  the  part  of  our  invaders.  The  blood  of  our  brethren,  our  fathers, 
and  our  children,  unjustly  and  untimely  slain,  cries  to  Heaven.  A  consider- 
able portion  of  our  territory  is  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  all  communi- 
cation with  the  churches  embraced  in  those  districts  must  for  the  time  be 
suspended.  We  look  forward  with  a  cheerful  confidence  to  a  renewal  of  our 
relations  to  those  churches,  when,  by  the  favor  of  God,  the  enemy  shall  have 
been  expelled.  We  commend  these  afflicted  brethren  to  your  sympathies 
and  your  prayers.  It  is  to  us  matter  of  devout  gratitude  to  Almighty  God 
that  he  has  so  often  and  so  signally  baffled  the  efforts  of  our  enemies  to  effect 
our  subjugation,  and  that  he  has  vouchsafed  to  our  arms  victories  so  repeated 
and  so  wonderful." — "Minutes  of  1863,"  p.  155. 


TIIK  CHURCH  RENEWING  ITS  TESTIMONY.  42CJ 


agement  to  the  praying  people  at  home,  and  has  placed  the  seal  of  the  divine 
approbation  upon  our  righteous  cause.  .  .  . 

The  reports  of  all  our  Presbyteries  indicate  an  increasing  interest  in  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  our  colored  population.  The  long-continued  agitations 
of  our  adversaries  have  wrought  within  us  a  deeper  conviction  of  the  divine 
appointment  of  domestic  servitude,  and  have  led  to  clearer  comprehensions 
of  the  duties  we  owe  to  the  African  race.  We  hesitate  not  to  affirm  that  it 
is  the  peculiar  mission  of  the  Southern  Church  to  conserve  the  institution  of 
slavery,  and  to  make  it  a  blessing  both  to  master  and  slave.  We  could  not, 
if  we  would,  yield  up  these  four  millions  of  immortal  beings  to  the  dictates 
of  fanaticism  and  the  menace  of  military  power.  We  distinctly  recognize  the 
inscrutable  Power  which  brought  this  benighted  people  into  our  midst,  and 
we  shall  feel  that  we  have  not  discharged  our  solemn  trust  until  we  have  used 
every  effort  to  bring  them  under  the  saving  influence  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.1 

During  the  period  between  the  close  of  the  war  and 
1870  there  was  a  great  controversy  in  the  country,  upon 
the  spirituality  and  independence  of  the  church  as  the 
visible  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  upon  the  earth. 
And  in  order  that  the  mass  of  her  membership  might  know 
clearly  the  past  witness  of  the  church  as  to  her  inde- 
pendence, and  the  proper  testimony  for  the  future,  the 
Assembly  of  1870  instructed  the  Committee  of  Publication 
to  issue  in  tract  form  the  public  official  utterances  of  the 
Assemblies  in  relation  thereto.2 

This  publication,  together  with  the  repeated  charge 
that  the  church  had  not  maintained  an  attitude  of  inde- 
pendence toward  the  Confederacy,  was  the  occasion  of 
the  Assembly's  reviewing  in  1875-76  its  witness  as  to  the 
non-political  character  of  the  church,  and  formally  setting 
forth  its  testimony  once  again.  The  Assembly  of  1876 
recited  the  church's  testimony  concerning  its  own  non- 
secular  and  non-political  character,  delivered  from  1861 
to  1867  inclusive.  It  extracted  from  the  minutes  practi- 
cally the  entire  body  of  expressions  alleged  to  be  incon- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1864,"  p.  293. 

2  Compare  "  Minutes  of  1870,"  p.  542. 


430 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


sistent  with  the  afore-mentioned  declarations.1  By  way 
of  comment  on  these  two  classes  of  extracts,  it  affirmed : 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  doctrine  announced  and  maintained  by  the  Assem- 
bly, on  the  relations  of  the  church  to  the  state,  is  not,  as  has  often  been 
charged,  the  unscriptural  and  impracticable  idea  that  the  church  and  Chris- 
tian people,  as  such,  have  no  duties  to  perform  toward  the  state.  True,  the 
Assembly  denies  the  right  of  the  church  courts  to  interfere  with  the  domain 
of  Csesar  by  legislating  on  purely  political  questions ;  but  at  the  same  time  it 
has  the  right  to  enjoin  those  duties  which  the  citizen  confessedly  owes  to  the 
commonwealth.  ...  As  long  as  states  stand  and  are  acknowledged,  obe- 
dience— that  is,  submission  and  obedience  in  all  things  not  sinful — is  to  be 
enjoined  as  a  duty;  factious  resistance  to  be  condemned  as  a  sin.  .  .  . 

In  1861,  at  the  time  of  its  organization,  the  Assembly  found  its  members 
placed  under  the  civil  authority  of  the  Confederate  Government  and  that  of 
the  respective  States  which  constituted  it.  The  governments,  State  and  Con- 
federate, were  established  and  generally  acknowledged  within  our  respective 
bounds.  The  United  States  Government  was  known  to  us  only  as  one  with 
which  the  Confederate  Government  was  at  war,  and  by  which  it  was  menaced 
by  land  and  by  sea.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
above  principles,  our  Assembly  recognized  "  the  powers  that  be,"  and  which 
are  "  ordained  of  God  over  us,"  to  be  those  of  the  government  of  the  Con- 
federate States  and  of  the  respective  States  confederated  in  it.  Hence  it  was 
simply  carrying  out  its  own  principles  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Word  of  God 
when  it  taught  the  citizens  and  the  soldiers  to  discharge  toward  these  high 
civil  authorities  the  duties  which  the  Scriptures  enjoin  toward  "  the  powers 
that  be,"  and  when  it  made  "  intercession  for  all  that  are  in  authority."  .  .  . 

So  far  as  any  action  of  that  kitid  goes,  and  to  that  extent,  there  is  nothing 
that  offends  against  the  principles  set  forth  in  our  formal  declarations. 

In  the  Narrative  of  1862  there  is  a  single  clause  vhich  demands  a  criticism. 
The  situation  of  the  Southern  country  was  known  to  be  one  of  extreme  peril. 
The  war,  if  successful  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  involved  not  only  the 
destruction  of  the  Confederate  Government,  but  the  forfeiture  of  the  political 
rights  of  its  citizens,  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  domestic  institutions,  the 
loss  of  property,  and  other  evils  universally  dreaded.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  right  and  proper  for  our  Assembly  to  utter  a  strong  declaration 
of  sympathy  for  our  people,  and  to  give  a  decided  expression  of  commenda- 
tion to  those  who  were  performing  these  acts  of  what  they  esteemed  a  patriotic 
duty.  It  was  substantially  saying  to  them:  "As  this  is  to  you  not  only  a 
government  de  facto,  but  also  one  of  your  own  choice,  we  commend  you  for 
acting  faithfully  and  fully  according  to  these  convictions,  and  follow  you  with 
our  prayers."    But  when  our  Assembly  intimates  or  implies  an  opinion  as 

1  The  extracts  are  just  those  given  in  the  immediately  preceding  pages  of 
this  chapter. 


THE  CHURCH  RENEWING  ITS  TESTIMONY.      43  I 


to  whether  the  war  referred  to  was  justly  or  unjustly  waged,  or  a  decision  as 
to  which  was,  in  its  origin  and  principle,  the  government  to  which  the  citi- 
zens owed  obedience,  it  transcends  the  limits  of  its  authority.  It  no  longer 
bases  its  commendation  upon  what  is  de  facto  as  to  the  government,  or  upon 
the  inherent  right  which  the  citizen  had  in  defending  the  government  of  his 
choice,  but  it  assumes  to  decide  upon  the  righteousness  of  the  war.  A  court 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  no  commission  to  do  this.  It  is  in  principle 
the  error  we  have  condemned  in  the  Northern  Assembly  of  1861,  and  those 
of  other  years.1 

Another  alleged  error  is  to  be  remarked  in  several  forms  of  expression 
found  in  the  extracts  which  have  been  recited ;  such  as  :  "  the  war  in  which 
we  are  now  engaged  "  the  absorbing  interest  of  the  struggle  in  which  we 
are  now  contending  for  everything  dear  to  man  "  ;  "  the  armies  of  our  national 
independence  " ;  "  the  pitiless  barbarity  with  which  it  [the  war]  has  been  con- 
ducted on  the  part  of  oar  invaders  "  ;  "  it  is  to  us  matter  of  devout  gratitude 
to  Almighty  God  that  he  has  so  often  and  so  signally  baffled  the  efforts  of  our 
enemies  to  effect  our  subjugation,  and  that  he  has  vouchsafed  to  our  arms 
victories  so  repeated  and  wonderful";  "profound  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
repeated  repulses  of  our  insolent  and  cruel  foe";  "this  insane  attempt  to 
subjugate  and  destroy  us." 

If  these  expressions  are  to  be  taken  in  their  literal  sense,  it  should  be  can- 
didly admitted  that  they  are  entirely  out  of  place  in  a  court  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  are  therefore  to  be  regretted  and  disapproved.  They  seem  to 
arise  from  a  confusion  of  thought  or  a  temporary  forgetfulness  ;  at  any  rate, 
there  is  a  failure  to  discriminate  between  what  may  be  properly  uttered  in  the 
character  of  a  citizen  and  what  may  be  uttered  by  an  ecclesiastical  body. 

At  the  same  time,  with  this  admission,  it  may  be  rightly  insisted  that  the 
objection  rests  to  a  large  extent  upon  a  hypercriticism  ;  for  it  is  evident  that 
the  word  "our"  is  here  used  inadvertently,  and  in  a  very  general  sense, 
similar  to  the  phrase  "  our  army,"  or  "  our  country,"  so  often  heard  in  all 
ecclesiastical  assemblies. 

Concerning  Slavery. 

In  the  Narrative  of  the  state  of  religion  for  1864  two  expressions  concern- 
ing slavery  are  found  which  may  have  given  rise  to  much  criticism.    It  is 

1  "  There  is,  however,  this  wide  difference  between  the  action  of  the  two 
Assemblies.  The  Northern  not  only  decided  a  purely  political  question  for 
its  own  members  residing  within  these  States  and  Territories,  confessedly 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  but  it  also 
undertook  to  decide  the  great  question  for  the  members  of  our  churches 
residing  under  the  de  facto  government  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  one 
organized  under  forms  of  much  regularity  and  with  much  unanimity ;  and 
undertook  also  to  make  compliance  a  condition  of  church-membership,  and 
to  visit  with  discipline  those  who  disobeyed  this  act  of  usurpation.  The 
Southern  Assembly  was  never  guilty  of  this  transgression,  though  it  may 
have  erred  in  the  particular  mentioned." — "  Minutes  of  1876,"  p.  294. 


432 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


proper  to  state,  as  a  preliminary  remark,  that  these  Narratives  in  general  are 
not  closely  scrutinized  when  presented  to  the  General  Assembly,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  not  expected  to  introduce  difficult  or  debatable  points.  And  in 
regard  to  the  Narrative  for  that  year,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  it  was  read 
on  the  very  eve  of  the  final  adjournment  of  the  body,  at  a  time  when  the 
most  exciting  reports  of  battles  occurring  or  impending  had  just  reached  the 
place  [Charlotte,  N.  C],  and  when  many  members,  apprehensive  of  being 
cut  off  by  military  operations  from  a  return  home,  were  impatiently  hurrying 
away.  If,  therefore,  some  things  may  be  found  in  this  paper  less  carefully 
expressed  than  could  be  desired,  the  statement  just  presented  may  account 
for  the  fact  that  attention  was  not  drawn  to  them.  But  taking  them  as  they 
are,  there  are  a  few  remarks  to  be  offered  which  are  due  to  a  fair  understand- 
ing.   We  notice : 

1.  The  expression  that  "domestic  servitude  is  of  divine  appointment." 
The  essential  principle  of  slavery  is  submission,  or  subjection  to  control  by 
the  will  of  another.  This  is  an  essential  element  in  every  form  of  civil 
government  also,  and  in  the  family  relation  itself.  The  application  of  this 
principle  in  the  form  of  "domestic  servitude"  is  right  or  wrong  according 
to  circumstances.  It  is  not  an  institution  essential  to  the  social  state,  and 
therefore  is  not  of  universal  obligation.  But  in  certain  conditions  of  society 
it  has  been  expressly  recognized  by  God,  permitted  and  appointed.  See 
Exodus  xx.  10,  17;  Exodus  xxi.  7;  Leviticus  xxv.  44-46;  Matthew  v.  17; 
I  Timothy  vi.  1-4.  If  it  is  a  relation  justifiable  and  lawful  in  the  sight  of 
God,  it  must  be  in  a  certain  sense  of  divine  appointment,  since  whatever  is 
thus  lawful  implies  the  sanction  of  the  law-giver.  And  the  existence  of 
wrong  laws  and  usages  connected  with  it  no  more  disproves  the  lawfulness  of 
the  relation  itself  than  such  things  disprove  the  lawfulness  of  marriage  or  of 
civil  government. 

Therefore,  by  declaring  the  institution  of  slavery  to  be  "  of  divine  appoint- 
ment," our  Assembly  must  not  be  understood  as  expressing  the  opinion  that 
it  was  ordained  of  God  as  a  positively  divine  and  obligatory  institute  of  soci- 
ety for  all  communities  ;  but  simply  that  as  it  was  recognized  and  enforced  by 
the  law  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  of  the  particular  States  embraced  in 
that  confederation,  and  was  a  relation  existing  and  prevailing  throughout  its 
boundaries,  it  was,  in  the  sense  of  all  established  civil  relations,  a  matter  of 
divine  appointment  for  the  time  being,  in  the  midst  of  the  people  of  those 
States. 

2.  It  is  affirmed  that  it  was  the  peculiar  mission  of  the  "  Southern  Church 
to  conserve  the  institution  of  slavery." 

Concerning  this  we  remark  that  the  same  form  of  expression  is  to  be  found 
in  the  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  (New  School)  of  1865."  In  a 
carefully  considered  paper  on  "  The  State  of  the  Country,"  that  Assembly 
says:  "God  has  taught  us  in  this  war  that  the  church  must  conserve  the 
state  by  instructing  the  people  in  the  great  principles  of  justice,  and  inspiring 
them  to  practice  the  same."    If  any  one  will  define  the  sense  in  which  it  is 


THE  CHURCH  RENEWING  ITS  TESTIMONY.  433 


proper  for  the  church  "  to  conserve  the  state,"  in  the  same  sense  it  would  be 
also  proper  for  it  "to  conserve  the  institution  of  slavery."  It  certainly  is 
not  the  duty  of  the  church  to  conserve  the  state  in  the  sense  of  dictating 
what  form  of  civil  government  it  shall  establish,  how  long  it  shall  continue, 
or  for  what  causes  it  should  be  changed.  Its  duty  is  limited  to  condemning 
at  all  times  factious  resistance  to  established  civil  authority,  to  inculcating 
obedience  while  it  remains,  and  those  virtues  by  which  it  may  be  made,  as 
far  as  possible,  a  blessing  to  society.  The  very  same  applies  to  slavery;  and 
whoever  will  read  in  its  connection  the  expression  used  by  our  Assembly, 
must  see  that  such  is  the  sense  there  intended  by  that  word,  namely,  to  secure 
from  this  relation  and  arrangement,  as  it  existed,  the  greatest  practicable 
amount  of  good  for  all  classes  of  society,  and  thus  "make  it  a  blessing  both 
to  master  and  slave."  This  we  know  was  the  sense  intended  by  the  writer 
of  the  Narrative,  now  settled  as  an  acceptable  minister  in  connection  with  the 
Northern  Assembly,  and  we  have  no  doubt  it  was  the  sense  in  which  the 
Assembly  adopted  it. 

It  has  been  widely  proclaimed  that  our  Assembly  meant  by  the  word 
"  conserve"  to  assert  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  church  to  perpetuate  the 
institution  of  slavery.  On  this  point  it  may  be  remarked :  (a)  that  no  such 
intended  meaning  is  to  be  gathered  from  the  context;  (b)  that  such  an  inter- 
pretation is  negatived  by  the  explicit  and  carefully  considered  statement  of 
our  church  on  this  point,  at  its  first  organization  in  1861.  (c)  Even  those 
who  have  raised  a  clamor  against  us  do  not  themselves  seem  to  be  satisfied 
that  the  word  "conserve"  necessarily  means  to  perpetuate.  This  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  minutes  of  their  General  Assembly  charging  us  with 
"grievous  heresy"  and  with  "blasphemy"  they  repeatedly  misquote,  and 
therefore  misrepresent  us.  The  word  perpetuate  is  never  used  by  our  As- 
sembly, but  is  to  be  found  in  the  interpolation  of  its  accusers.  ("  Minutes 
of  the  General  Assembly,  North,  for  1865,"  pp.  560  ff.)  (d)  Finally  con- 
ceding, as  we  do,  that  the  word  "conserve  "  in  this  connection  is  ambiguous, 
our  Assembly  in  1865  did  all  that  it  could  be  reasonably  expected  in  the 
premises  to  disengage  itself  from  an  ambiguous  or  inappropriate  expression. 
All  that  was  necessary  or  proper  was  to  declare  that  the  Address  of  1861 
"contains  the  full,  unambiguous,  and  authoritative  exposition  of  our  views 
in  regard  to  this  matter."  And  this  was  done  for  the  special  purpose  of 
disavowing  an  interpretation  which  was  inconsistent  with  the  deliberately 
expressed  viezvs  of  oicr  church.^- 

Finally  ^  the  Assembly  of  1876,  in  view  of  all  the  circum- 
stances and  interests  involved,  solemnly,  in  certain  specific 
resolutions,  reaffirmed  the  explicit  statements  concerning 
the  non-secular  character  of  the  church,  set  forth  in  the 


1  "  Minutes  of  1876,"  pp.  291-297. 


434  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


"Address  to  all  the  Churches  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout 
the  Earth  "  of  1 86 1  ;  disavowed  all  ambiguous  and  incon- 
sistent expressions  found  upon  the  records  as  forming  any 
part  of  the  well-considered,  authoritative  teaching  of  the 
church;  declared  the  meaning  of  the  Assembly  of  1864, 
in  speaking  of  conserving  slavery  "  as  of  divine  appoint- 
ment," to  have  been,  so  far  as  ascertainable,  "that-as  "it 
was  recognized  and  enforced  by  the  Confederate  States, 
and  was  an  existing  relation  prevailing  throughout  its 
boundaries,  it  was,  in  the  sense  of  all  established  civil  re- 
lations, a  matter  of  divine  appointment  for  the  time  being 
in  the  midst  of  the  people  of  those  States  "  ;  and  that  it 
was  the  church's  duty  "  to  secure  from  this  relation  and 
arrangement,  as  it  existed,  the  greatest  practical  amount 
of  good  for  all  classes  of  society,  and  thus  make  it  a  bless- 
ing both  to  master  and  slave."  1 

It  thus  appears  that  if  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church 
has  faltered  in  her  testimony  for  the  non-secular  charac- 
ter of  the  church,  her  falterings  have  been  transient  incon- 
sistencies. Her  witness  for  this  truth  has  been  one  of  her 
peculiar  glories.  The  Assembly  has  humbly  explained  and 
acknowledged  such  mistakes  as  she  has  made.  "  That  it 
faltered  at  all  amidst  the  pressure  and  confusion  of  the 
times  is  not  the  surprise,  but  rather  that  it  did  not  fall 
away  from  the  truth  like  others.  .  .  .  The  surprise  is  that 
it  has  had  the  grace  to  acknowledge  before  the  world  its 
inconsistency  in  any  transient  departure.  Awakening  from 
a  terrible  delirium,  and  finding  that  a  false  and  treacher- 
ous principle  had,  in  an  interval  of  paroxysm,  stealthily 
insinuated  itself,  it  hurled  it  with  indignation  from  its  em- 
brace, and  placed  its  heel  upon  it  as  a  deadly  viper."  2 

It  is  believed  that  the  church  has  continued  to  hold  until 

1  "  Minutes  of  1876,"  pp.  233,  234. 

2  Dr.  S.  S.  Laws'  "  Letter  to  the  Synod  of  Missouri  (O.  S.),  1872,"  p.  67. 


UNION  WITH  THE  INDEPENDENT  PRESBYTERIANS.  435 

the  present  the  same  theoretical  view.  In  1883,  in  reply 
to  an  overture  from  Abingdon  Presbytery,  the  Assembly 
declared  "  that  it  is  not  competent  for  the  church,  in  its 
organic  capacity,  to  seek  the  intervention  of  the  civil  pow- 
ers for  the  accomplishment  of  any  of  the  ends  before  it, 
as  a  witness  for  the  truth  of  God.  The  Assembly  would 
furthermore  deprecate  all  action  which  might  be  construed 
as  committing  the  church  to  any  alliance  with  associations 
or  societies  outside  of  its  pale  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  or  any  other  object,  however  worthy  in  itself."  1  Any 
apparent  deviation  from  this  position  since  1883  will  appear 
on  investigation  to  be  merely  apparent  or  unintentional. 

2.  Cases  of  Organic  Union  with  other  Ecclesiastical 
Bodies. 

Union  with  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church  took 
place  in  1863.  The  founder  of  this  church  was  the  Rev. 
W.  C.  Davis,  who  withdrew  from  the  Presbyterian  Church 
about  1 8 1  o — a  "  man  of  a  vigorous  intellect,  of  considerable 
influence  among  the  people,  and  an  interesting  preacher, 
given  more  to  metaphysical  speculation  than  most  men,"2 
extremely  tenacious  of  what  he  regarded  as  new  discoveries, 
and  so  unacquainted  with  church  history  as  to  be  ignorant 
that  most  of  the  beloved  offspring  of  his  mind  had  been 
broached,  advocated,  exploded,  and  forgotten  long  before.3 

1  "  Minutes  of  1883,"  p.  24. 

2  Howe's  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  South  Carolina,"  vol.  ii., 
p.  97. 

3  Compare  Howe's  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  South  Caro- 
lina," vol.  ii.,  p.  158.  His  views  were  propagated  orally  and  through  his 
book,  "  The  Gospel  Plan,"  in  which  the  courts  of  the  church  found  the  follow- 
ing objectionable  doctrines  :  1.  "  That  the  active  obedience  of  Christ  consti- 
tutes no  part  of  that  righteousness  by  which  a  sinner  is  justified  ;  "  2.  "  That 
obedience  to  the  moral  law  was  not  required  as  the  condition  of  the  covenant 
of  works;"  3.  "That  God  could  not  make  Adam,  or  any  other  creature, 
either  holy  or  unholy ;  .  .  .  regeneration  must  be  a  consequence  of  faith ; 
faith  precedes  regeneration  ;  faith  in  the  first  act  of  it  is  not  a  holy  act ;  " 
4.  "  Christians  may  sin  willfully  and  habitually ;"  5.  "  If  God  has  to  plant  all 
the  principal  parts  of  salvation  in  a  sinner's  heart  to  enable  him  to  believe, 


43^> 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


He  had  a  small  following,  not  so  much  of  adherents  to  his 
peculiar  views  as  of  personal  friends.  They  perpetuated 
their  separate  life  until  1863.  In  that  year,  "upon  the 
cordial  and  hearty  adoption  of  our  confession,  .  .  .  the 
only  true  ground  on  which  we  can  receive  any  ecclesias- 
tical body,"1  they  were  received  into  the  Southern  Pres- 
byterian Church.2 

Union  witJi  the  United  Synod  of  tJie  South  was  the  next 
to  be  consummated.  This  occurred  in  1864.  In  1838  a 
split  between  the  Old  and  New  School  wings  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  took 
place.  In  1857-58  the  Southern  contingent  of  the  New 
School  body  withdrew  from  its  Assembly  in  the  North 
because  the  Cleveland  Assembly  of  that  body  (1857)  had 
"  adopted  a  paper  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  that 
was  regarded  by  some  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
as  contrary  to  Scripture  and  violative  of  the  constitution  of 
the  church,  in  that  it  virtually  made  slaveholding  a  cause 
for  discipline  by  the  church  courts."3  The  aggrieved 
members  secured  a  convention  in  Richmond,  Va.,  during 
the  following  August,  to  consider  the  situation.  This  con- 
vention despaired  of  the  cessation  of  the  slavery  agitation 
in  the  New  School  Assembly;  abhorred  being  disciplined 
for  something  made  an  offense  neither  by  the  Standards 
nor  the  Bible,  as  well  as  the  Assembly's  high-handed  and 
unconstitutional  measures  in  condemning  a  lower  judica- 
tory or  individuals  for  any  cause  unless  they  have  been 

the  gospel  plan  is  quite  out  of  his  reach,  and  consequently  does  not  suit  his 
case;  and  it  must  be  impossible  for  God  to  condemn  a  man  for  unbelief,  for 
no  just  law  condemns  a  man  for  not  doing  what  he  cannot  do."  ("  Minutes 
of  Assembly  of  1810,"  p.  452  f . )    Mr.  Davis  was  deposed  in  1812. 

1  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  411,  412. 

2  The  membership  was  confined  to  the  upper  parts  of  South  Carolina  and 
adjacent  parts  of  North  Carolina,  with  York  County  as  a  center.  This  union 
brought  in  four  ministers,  one  licentiate,  and  about  eleven  country  and  village 
churches. 

3  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  404. 


UNION  WITH  UNITED  SYNOD  OF  THE  SOUTH  437 

brought  before  the  Assembly  in  the  way  prescribed  by 
the  constitution ;  "  and  resolved  to  recommend  the  Pres- 
byteries which  were  opposed  to  the  slavery  agitation  in  the 
highest  judicatories  of  the  church  to  appoint  delegates," 
to  meet  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  on  the  third  Thursday  in 
May,  1858,  to  organize  a  General  Synod,  under  the  name 
of  "  The  United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America."  Accordingly,  at  the  time 
appointed  twenty-one  commissioners  from  twelve  Presby- 
teries, located  in  four  different  States,  met  and  constituted 
the  "  United  Synod."  A  declaration  of  principles  which 
was  adopted  contained  among  its  articles  one  affirming 
"  their  agreement  in,  and  approbation  of,  the  Standards  of 
the  church,"  taken  in  the  sense  of  the  Adopting  Act  of 
1729.  The  Synod  made  an  overture  to  the  Old  School 
Assembly  for  reception  into  its  fold ;  but  that  body  was 
not  disposed  to  receive  the  overture  favorably.  By  1863 
the  Old  School  Church  of  the  South,  however,  was  inclined 
to  the  union.  It  was  no  longer  suspicious  of  doctrinal  un- 
soundness in  the  New  School,  South.  Indeed,  it  had  long 
been  known  that  the  New  School  men  of  the  South  were 
never  advocates  of  the  distinctive  New  School  doctrines, 
so  much  as  admirers  of  New  School  leaders  in  the  North, 
and  protestants  against  the  peculiar  ecclesiastical  moves 
of  the  Old  School  men  of  1837-38. 

Accordingly,  in  1 863  committees  to  jointly  confer  as  to 
the  basis  of  union  were  appointed,  met,  and  with  practically 
entire  unanimity  recommended  a  plan  of  union.  This  plan 
contained  a  declaration  touching  certain  doctrines  which 
had  formerly  been  grounds  of  debate,  in  order  to  make 
clear  the  hearty  and  sincere  agreement  of  the  two  bodies, 
"  to  restore  full  confidence  between  brethren,  and  to  honor 
God's  saving  truth,"  to  wit:  first,  concerning  the  fall  of 
man  and  original  sin  including  the  imputation  of  the  guilt 


438 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


of  Adam's  sin  ;  second,  concerning  regeneration;  third,  con- 
cerning the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ ;  fourth,  concerning  the 
believer's  justification;  fifth,  concerning  revivals;  sixth,  con- 
cerning voluntary  societies  and  the  functions  of  the  church. 

The  Assembly  of  1864,  after  a  very  full  consideration, 
expressed  its  belief  that  the  approval  of  these  propositions 
by  the  committees  of  conference,  and  extensively  on  both 
sides,  "  had  served  a  valuable  purpose,  by  presenting  sat- 
isfactory evidence  of  such  harmony  and  doctrinal  sound- 
ness of  views  as  might  ground  an  honorable  union" ;  but 
judged  it  most  "  prudent  to  unite  on  the  basis  of  the  exist- 
ing Standards  only,  inasmuch  as  no  actual  necessity  for 
other  declarations  of  belief  in  order  to  a  happy  union  " 
existed.  The  Assembly  modified  the  plan  of  union  fur- 
ther, "  so  as  in  every  case  to  require  the  reception  of  the 
Presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  United  Synod  into  the 
Synods  of  this  Assembly,  so  as  to  preserve  the  undoubted 
succession  of  the  latter."  It  made  a  few  other  relatively 
unimportant  changes,  and  then  by  a  very  large  majority 
adopted  the  plan  thus  modified.  During  the  August  fol- 
lowing the  United  Synod  unanimously  adopted  the  plan 
of  union  as  amended  and  adopted  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly. 

This  union  was  honorable  to  both  parties,  and  has  been 
a  source  of  great  blessing  to  Southern  Presbyterianism. 
It  was  a  perfectly  safe  union  for  the  Old  School  body. 
The  other  body  was  sound,  and  even  if  it  had  not  been 
completely  so,  the  seminaries  for  the  ministry  were  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  Old  School  men,  for  the  whole  church.1 

In  1867  the  Presbytery  of  Patapsco  united  with  the  As- 
sembly.   It  lay  in  the  State  of  Maryland.     It  was  com- 

1  The  ranks  of  the  church  were  much  strengthened  by  this  union.  "  In 
1861  the  United  Synod  embraced  121  ministers,  199  churches,  and  had  under 
its  care  4  licentiates,  18  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  11,581  communi- 
cants. 


PATAPSCO  AND  ALABAMA  PRESBYTERIES.  439 


posed  of  ministers  and  churches  which  had  withdrawn  from 
connection  with  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Church  (0.  S.) 
"  because  of  the  numerous  and  persistent  violations  of  the 
constitution  of  the  church  by  the  highest  courts  "  thereof.1 

The  Alabama  Presbytery  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church  was  received  about  the  same  time,  the  Assembly 
guaranteeing  its  members  the  right  to  use  Rouse's  version 
of  the  Psalms  in  worship,  according  to  their  preference. 

The  Synod  of  Kentucky  united  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  South,  in  1869.  In  1861  the  Synod  of  Kentucky, 
belonging  to  the  Old  School  Assembly,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Southern  Synods  declared  that 
it  "  adhered  with  unbroken  purpose  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America."  It  enjoined 
"  upon  all  its  members,  and  upon  all  under  its  control  and 
care,  to  avoid  all  divisive  and  schismatical  courses,  to  cul- 
tivate the  peace  of  the  church,  and  to  practice  great  mutual 
forbearance."  2  It  deplored  the  schism  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  Southern  States,  and  condemned  it  as  having 
been  made  on  insufficient  grounds.  At  the  same  time  it 
expressed  its  regret  "  at  that  part  of  the  action  of  the  last 
Assembly  touching  the  order3  for  a  day  of  general  prayer, 

1  Appearing  before  the  Assembly  of  1867,  through  their  commissioners 
they  affirmed  that  they  had  no  good  "  ground  of  hope  that  the  church  of" 
their  "  former  connection  "  would  soon  "  return  to  the  divine  constitution  of 
the  church  so  faithfully  set  forth  in  the  Standards  ;  that  they  held  it  to  be 
the  imperative  obligation  of  all  God's  people,  according  to  the  will  of  Christ, 
to  manifest  the  invisible  unity  of  their  faith  in  the  unity  of  a  visible  church, 
as  far  and  as  fast  as  it  can  be  done  consistently  with  the  purity  "  of  the  first; 
that  they  believed  "  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  "  to  be 
the  largest  body  of  Christians  in  the  land  whose  faith  and  government  were 
identical  with  their  own  and  pure  according  to  the  Standards  of  the  church. 

The  Presbytery  was  at  once  received  by  the  Assembly,  and  attached  to  the 
Synod  of  Virginia  as  a  component  part  of  it.  This  Presbytery  brought  an 
accession  of  6  ministers,  3  churches,  576  communicants,  much  wealth  and 
intelligence.     ("  Minutes  of  1867,"  pp.  131  ff.) 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  427. 

3  The  reader  has  been  made  acquainted  with  this  order  under  the  caption 
of  "  The  Spring  Resolutions." 


440 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


which  was  liable  to  be  construed,  and  was  construed,  into 
a  requisition  on  all  the  members  and  office-bearers  of  the 
church  living  in  the  numerous  States  which  had  seceded 
from  the  United  States,  and  were  in  a  state  of  war  with 
them,  as  bound  by  Christian  duty,  and  by  authority  of  the 
church,  to  disregard  the  hostile  governments  which  had 
been  established  over  them,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  actual 
authority  of  those  governments,  to  pray  for  their  over- 
throw." 1  The  Assembly  in  1862,  by  way  of  review,  con- 
demned the  Synod's  disapproval  of  these  acts.2 

The  Assembly  of  1862  adopted  a  paper,  too,  prepared 
by  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckinridge,  in  which  it  declared  that  pub- 
lic order  had  "  been  wickedly  superseded  by  rebellion, 
anarchy,  and  violence,  in  the  whole  Southern  portion  of 
the  Union  "  ;  that  all  this  had  "  been  brought  to  pass  in  a 
disloyal  and  traitorous  attempt  to  overthrow  the  National 
Government  by  military  force,  and  to  divide  the  nation  con- 
trary to  the  wishes  of  the  immense  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  nation,  and  without  satisfactory  evidence  that  the 
majority  of  the  people  in  whom  the  local  sovereignty  re- 
sided, even  in  the  States  which  revolted,  ever  authorized 
any  such  proceeding,  or  ever  approved  the  fraud  and 
violence  by  which  this  horrible  treason"  had  "achieved 
whatever  success  it  "  had  "  had  "  ;  that  "  this  whole  trea- 
son, rebellion,  anarchy,  fraud,  and  violence  "  was  "  utterly 
contrary  to  the  dictates  of  natural  religion  and  morality, 
and  plainly  condemned  by  the  revealed  will  of  God  "  ;  that 
it  was  "  the  clear  and  solemn  duty  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment to  preserve,  at  whatever  cost,  the  national  union  and 
constitution,  to  crush  force  by  force  "  ;  and  that  it  was 
"the  bounden  duty  of  the  people  who"  composed  "this 
great  nation,  each  one  in  his  several  place  and  degree,  to 

1  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  427. 

2  "  Minutes  of  Northern  Assembly  (O.  S.)  of  1862,"  p.  631. 


THE  SYNOD  OF  KENTUCKY.  44 1 

uphold  the  Federal  Government,  and  every  State  govern- 
ment." This  paper  further  denounced,  without  naming, 
certain  office-bearers  and  members  of  churches  in  loyal 
Synods  and  Presbyteries  as  "  faithless  to  all  authority, 
human  or  divine";  and  enjoined  obedience  to  civil  gov- 
ernment, not  only  in  overt  act,  but  "  in  heart,  temper,  and 
motives  (as  God's  law  is  to  be  obeyed),  and  as  they  shall 
answer  at  the  judgment- seat."  1  All  this  was  intensely 
irritating  to  a  large  majority  of  the  Kentucky  Synod.2 

Various  acts  of  1864  were  regarded  as  still  more  out- 
rageous. Among  these  was  the  minute  known  as  the 
"  Stanley-Matthews  Paper,"  adopting  the  naturalistic  views 
of  the  slavery  question,  and  declaring  the  political  occur- 
rences of  the  time  to  be  providential  revelations  of  the 
will  of  God  that  every  vestige  of  slavery  should  be  effaced; 
that  the  motive  for  the  longer  continuance  of  slavery  had 
been  taken  away  by  the  war  of  the  slaveholding  States  in 
order  to  found  an  empire  upon  the  corner-stone  of  slavery  ; 
expressing  gratitude  to  God  for  overruling  the  wickedness 
and  calamities  of  the  rebellion  to  work  out  the  deliverance 
of  the  country  from  the  evil  and  guilt  of  slavery ;  and  the 
desire  for  the  extirpation  of  slavery ;  and  recommending 
all  in  their  communion  "  to  labor  earnestly  and  unweariedly 
for  this  glorious  consummation  to  which  human  justice  and 
Christian  love  combine  to  pledge  them."3 

1  "  Minutes  of  1862,"  pp.  624-626.  Compare  letter  of  the  Synod  of  Ken- 
tucky to  the  Southern  Assembly,  "  Minutes  of  Assembly,  South,  of  1867," 
p.  181. 

2  The  Assembly  of  1863  gave  similar  offense  in  its  elaborate  minute  "  upon 
the  subject  of  raising  the  United  States  flag  over  the  church  building  in 
which  the  body  sat ;  reaffirming  the  doctrine  of  the  obligation  of  the  church, 
as  such,  to  proclaim  her  loyalty  to  the  civil  government."  (Letter  of  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky  to  the  Southern  Assembly  of  1867,  p.  181  of  the  "  Min- 
utes."   For  the  minute,  see  "  Minutes  of  Northern  Assembly  (O.  S.)  of 

1863."  PP-  57-59-) 

3  Letter  of  Synod  to  Southern  Assembly  of  1867,  pp.  181,  182  of  "  Min- 
utes."   Compare  "  Minutes  of  Assembly,  North,  of  1864,"  pp.  298,  299. 


442 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


"  The  decisions  in  the  cases  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  McPheeters 
and  the  Pine  Street  Church,  St.  Louis,  and  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Farris  and  ruling  elder  Watson  and  the  St.  Charles  Church, 
Missouri,  .  .  .  giving  the  full  sanction  of  the  Assembly 
to  the  persecution  of  Christ's  ministers  who  could  not  in 
conscience  consent  to  pervert  their  office  and  position  to 
the  support  of  a  political  party,"  1  was  not  less  objection- 
able. The  Synod  of  Kentucky  in  the  following  autumn, 
in  reviewing  the  minutes  of  this  Assembly,  expressed  its 
disapproval  of  the  Assembly's  deliverances  on  slavery,  as 
unnecessary,  unwise,  and  untimely.  It  looked  upon  said 
deliverance  as  a  political,  if  not  partisan,  statement — one 
that  made  the  Assembly  seem  to  cast  its  influence  with 
one  or  the  other  of  the  political  parties  which  divided  the 
country.2 

The  Assembly  of  1865  gave  still  further  offense  in  acts 
enforcing  the  principles  of  the  foregoing  acts  as  a  part  of 
the  standing  law  of  the  church ;  thus :  "  First,  condemn- 
ing the  Synod  of  Kentucky  for  taking  exception  to  the 
Assembly's  paper  on  slavery  in  1864,  and  because  the 
Synod  had  '  wholly  failed  to  make  any  deliverance  cal- 
culated to  sustain  and  encourage  our  government  in  its 
efforts  to  suppress  a  wanton  and  wicked  rebellion.'"3 
"  Second,  the  order  to  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  to 
appoint  as  missionaries  '  none  but  those  that  give  satis- 
factory evidence  of  their  loyalty  to  the  National  Govern- 
ment, and  that  they  are  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  its  testimony  on  doctrine,  loyalty,  and 
freedom.'"4    "  Third,  the  order  to  all  the  lower  church 

1  Letter  of  Synod  of  Kentucky  in  "  Minutes  of  Assembly,  South,  of  1867," 
p.  183.  Compare  "  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1864,"  pp. 
3II.3I2. 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  427. 

3  "  Minutes  of  Northern  Assembly  of  1865,"  p.  54.  Compare  letter  of 
Synod  of  Kentucky,  tit  supra. 

*  "  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1865,"  pp.  554,  556,  590. 


THE  "  DECLARATION  AND  TESTIMONY:' 


443 


courts  requiring  the  examination  of  all  the  ministers  and 
church-members  coming  from  any  of  the  Southern  States, 
and  making  it  a  condition  precedent  to  admission  to  the 
church  courts  and  churches  that  they  confess  as  sinful  cer- 
tain opinions  before  held  touching  1  States  rights,'  rebellion, 
slavery,  not  in  harmony  with  previous  political  utterances 
of  the  Assembly."1  "Fourth,  the  minutes  of  the  same 
Assembly,  declaring  untruly  that  the  Southern  churches 
had  organized  a  General  Assembly  '  in  order  to  render 
their  aid  in  the  attempt  to  establish,  by  means  of  the  re- 
bellion, a  separate  national  existence,  to  conserve  and  per- 
petuate the  system  of  slavery — a  great  crime  against  the 
government  and  against  God  ' — and  therefore  declaring  the 
Assembly's  purpose  to  ignore  the  existence  of  any  Presby- 
terian church  in  the  Southern  States  except  such  churches 
and  Presbyteries  as  are  loyal  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  and  to  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  whose  views  are  in  harmony  with  its  views  on  subjects 
of  domestic  slavery."  2 

During  the  summer  of  1865  the  Louisville  Presbytery 
adopted  its  celebrated  "  Declaration  and  Testimony  against 
the  Erroneous  and  Heretical  Doctrines  and  Practices  which 
have  Obtained  and  been  Propagated  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  during  the  Last  Five  Years  " 
— a  paper  marked  by  splendid  ability,  clear,  keen,  reveal- 
ing, unanswerable.3    The  signers  testified  :  against  the  as- 

Compare  letter  of  Synod  of  Kentucky  to  General  Assembly,  South,  of  1867, 
p.  182. 

1  See  "  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1865,"  p.  566.  Compare 
letter  of  Synod  of  Kentucky  to  General  Assembly,  South,  of  1867,  p.  181  of 
"  Minutes." 

2  "  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1865,"  p.  506.  Compare 
'*  Minutes  of  Assembly,  South,  of  1867,"  p.  182. 

3  The  "  Declaration  and  Testimony"  was  written  by  Dr.  S.  R.  Wilson, 
pastor  in  Louisville — a  man  born  in  the  North,  and  who  had  lived  there 
until  a  few  years  before.  He  was  never  suspected  of  a  leaning  toward  se- 
cession.    His  writing  the  paper  in  question  was  the  result  of  a  conference 


444 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESB YTERIAXS.       [Chap.  v. 


sumption,  on  the  part  of  the  courts  of  the  church,  of  the 
right  to  decide  questions  of  state  policy ;  against  the  doc- 
trine that  the  church,  as  such,  owes  allegiance  to  human 
rulers  or  governments ;  against  the  sanction  given  by  the 
church  to  the  perversion  of  the  teaching  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles  upon  the  subject  of  the  duty  of  Christians  as 
citizens  to  render  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's, 
and  "  to  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,"  into  authority 
for  her  courts  to  decide  upon  political  questions;  against 
the  action  of  the  Assembly  of  1864  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  and  emancipation,  and  against  the  confirmation  of 
that  act  by  the  Assembly  of  1865  ;  against  the  unjust  and 
scandalous  contradictions  of  their  own  recorded  testimony 
and  the  well-known  fact  in  regard  to  the  labors  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  and  ministry  for  the  christianizing  of 
the  slaves  of  the  South  and  the  preaching 1  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ;  against  the  doctrine  widely  taught  in  the  church, 
and  even  countenanced  by  the  Assembly,  that  the  acts 
and  deliverances  of  the  courts  of  Christ's  commonwealth 
may  properly  be  based  upon  and  shaped  in  accordance 
with  the  ordinances  and  laws  of  the  State  legislatures,  the 
orders  and  proclamations  of  military  chieftains,  and  even 
upon  the  results  of  popular  votes  given  at  the  elections; 
against  the  doctrine  that  the  will  of  God  and  the  duty  of 
his  church  and  of  his  people  is  to  be  learned  from  partic- 
ular providential  events,  and  that  the  teachings  ,of  the 
Scriptures  are  to  be  interpreted  by  these  providences; 
against  the  sanction  given,  both  directly  and  indirectly, 
to  the  usurpation  by  the  secular  and  military  powers  of 

between  himself,  Dr.  J.  H.  Brooks,  of  St.  Louis,  Mr.  Edward  Bredell,  of 
St.  Louis,  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Van  Dyke,  of  New  York,  in  the  study  of  Dr..  Van 
Dyke,  in  New  York  City.  It  came  not  from  "  hot-headed  Southern  preju- 
dices," but  from  cool,  intelligent  Northern  principle! 

1  During  the  later  years  of  the  war  the  Northern  Assemblies  denied  that 
Presbyterians  had  done  anything  to  better  the  negro's  religious  condition. 
They  therein  contradicted  their  previous  declarations. 


THE  "  DECLARATION  AND  TESTIMONY:'  445 


authority  in  and  over  the  worship  and  government  of 
the  church ;  against  that  alliance  which  has  been  virtually 
formed  by  the  church  with  the  State ;  against  the  perse- 
cution which  for  five  years  past  has  been  carried  on  with 
increasing  malignity  against  those  who  had  refused  to 
sanction  or  acquiesce  in  these  departures  of  the  church 
from  the  foundations  of  truth  and  righteousness;  against 
the  widespread  and  destructive  perversion  of  the  commis- 
sion of  the  ministry  and  the  province  of  church  courts, 
which  as  such  could  know  no  difference  between  Jew  and 
Gentile,  "  Rebel  "  or  "  Yankee  "  ;  against  the  action  of  the 
Assembly  in  reference  to  the  churches  in  the  seceded  and 
border  States,  and  against  the  basing  of  the  action  on 
assertion  of  what  the  Assembly  had  the  clearest  evidence 
was  not  true,  viz.,  on  the  affirmation  that  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Confederate  States  was  organized  in 
order  to  render  their  aid  in  the  attempt  to  establish,  by 
means  of  the  rebellion,  "a  separate  national  existence,  and 
conserve  and  perpetuate  the  system  of  slavery  against  the 
Assembly's  making  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  a 
court  of  final  and  superior  jurisdiction  to  judge  of  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  ministry  and  the  soundness  of  their 
views  touching  the  nature  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  doctrine  of  States  rights,  the  free- 
dom of  the  negroes,  and  the  various  important  questions 
touching  their  social  and  civil  status,  then  and  prospect- 
ive ;  against  every  movement  in  the  church  which  looked 
toward  a  union  of  the  state  and  church,  or  a  subordina- 
tion of  the  one  to  the  other,  or  the  interference  of  either 
with  the  jurisdiction  of  the  other.  The  paper  further 
presented  as  reasons  for  the  testimony,  that  the  errors 
testified  against  were  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  and 
subversive  of  its  inspiration  and  supreme  authority ;  con- 
trary to  the  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  taught 


446 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


in  her  confession,  catechism,  and  constitution ;  that  the 
errors  tended  to  obliterate  all  the  lines  of  separation  be- 
tween the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  to  bring  the  min- 
istry and  all  the  ordinances  of  religion  and  the  authority 
of  the  church  into  public  disrepute,  to  keep  up  strife  and  ' 
alienation  between  brethren  of  a  common  faith,  and  thus 
delay  the  pacification  of  the  country ;  and  that  ihey  are 
schismatical,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
man.  The  protestants  further  declared  that  they  would 
not  in  any  way  aid  or  abet  the  Assembly  in  its  innovating 
measures,  and  would  withdraw  support  from  any  men  or 
institutions  who  gave  themselves  to  carrying  out  said 
measures.1 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  the  fall  of  1865,  Dr.  R.  J. 
Breckinridge  offered  a  paper  calling  in  question  the  right 
of  those  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Louisville,  and 
others  who  had  indorsed  and  adopted  the  paper  styled 
the  "  Declaration  and  Testimony,"  to  sit  and  act  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky.  The  paper  asserted  that 
the  signers  of  the  "  Declaration  and  Testimony  "  had  as- 
sumed <f  such  a  state  of  open  rebellion  against  the  church, 
and  such  open  contempt  and  defiance  of  her  Scriptural 
authority,  and  such  contempt  of  her  faith  and  order  and 
acts,  as  to  render  each  and  every  one  of  them  unqualified, 
unfit,  and  incompetent  to  sit  and  act  as  a  member  of  that 
or  any  other  court  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  But  this 
paper  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  22  to  107.  Moreover, 
this  Synod  adopted  an  elaborate  paper  offered  by  Judge 
Sampson,  in  which  it  took  exception  to  the  Assembly's 
order  to  the  Board  of  Missions  to  appoint  as  missionaries 
"  none  but  those  who  give  satisfactory  evidence  of  their 

1  See  the  "  Declaration  and  Testimony,"  published  at  the  office  of  ihe 
"St.  Louis  Presbyterian,"  1866,  also  in  Grasty's  "Life  of  McPheeters," 
pp.  304  ff. 


OLD  SCHOOL  ASSEMBLY,  NORTH,  1866.  447 

loyalty  to  the  National  Government,  and  that  they  are  in 
cordial  sympathy  with  the  General  Assembly  in  its  testi- 
monies on  doctrine,  loyalty,  and  freedom."  But  in  the 
same  paper,  Synod,  by  a  vote  of  57  to  35,  expressed  its 
judgment  that  neither  this  action  nor  any  of  the  acts  and 
deliverances  of  the  Assembly  or  the  state  of  the  country 
during  the  war  justified  a  withdrawal  from  its  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly ;  and  it  again  asserted  that  it 
would  "  adhere  with  unbroken  purpose  to  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  would 
oppose  every  effort  to  interrupt "  its  "  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions with  the  General  Assembly."1 

Acts  and  deliverances  of  the  Assembly  of  1866,  ordain- 
ing the  execution  of  the  orders  of  1865,  were  still  more 
intolerable.  This  Assembly  excluded  the  commissioners 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Louisville  from  their  seats  in  the 
Assembly  by  a  simple  resolution,  without  hearing,  "  and 
on  premises  whose  statements  were  utterly  false,  and  one 
of  them  defamatory  of  a  minister  of  good  standing."2  It 
ordered  "  certain  persons — some  of  them  under  process 
before  the  church  session,  and  their  case  under  careful 
consideration  before  the  Presbytery — to  be  recognized  as 
elders  of  the  Walnut  Street  Church,  without  the  possibility 
of  any  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly  whether 
they  had  been  duly  elected  and  were  lawful  ruling  elders 
or  not."3  It  initiated  steps  for  organic  reunion  with  the 
New  School  body,  "  in  utter  disregard  of  the  testimonies 

1  Also,  by  a  vote  of  54  to  46,  it  expressed  its  disapprobation  of  the  terms 
of  the  "  Declaration  and  Testimony,"  and  of  its  spirit  and  intent,  indicated 
on  its  face,  as  looking  to  the  further  agitation  of  the  church,  if  not  to  its 
division  at  a  time  when  great  mutual  forbearance  was  called  for  among 
brethren.  (See  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  428.)  This  account  of  the  Synod 
of  Kentucky  of  1865  is  told  here  almost  in  Mr.  iUexander's  words. 

2  "  Minutes  of  Southern  Assembly  of  1867,"  p.  182.  Compare  "  Minutes 
of  Assembly,  North,  of  1866,"  p.  12. 

3  "  Minutes  of  Southern  Assembly  of  1867,"  p.  183.  Compare  "  Minutes 
of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1866,"  p.  54. 


448 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


of  1837-38  against  errors  which  the  New  School  body 
not  only  had  not  renounced,  but,  on  the  contrary,  had 
added  to  largely  by  its  monstrous  Erastian  deliverances 
on  the  state  of  the  country  in  1863,  1864,  and  1865,  and 
the  monstrous  deliverances  just  then  made  indorsing  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill  and  negro  suffrage  as  against  the  Presi- 
dent, and  calling  for  more  blood  in  the  condign  punish- 
ment of  the  chief  fomenters  of  the  rebellion."  1  It  passed 
an  act  "  known  as  the  Gurley  ipso  facto  order,  declaring, 
first,  the  1  Declaration  and  Testimony  '  to  be  slanderous 
and  schismatical,2  then  summoning  its  signers  to  the  bar 
of  the  next  Assembly  for  trial,  without  other  citation,  or 
other  tabling  of  charges ;  devising  penalties  unknown  to 
the  constitution,  and  utterly  incongruous  to  the  Presby- 
terian theory  of  the  teaching  rulers — interdiction  of  these 
rulers  sitting  in  any  church  court  higher  than  the  ses- 
sion; and  declaring  the  ipso  facto  dissolution  of  Presby- 
teries which  refused  to  execute  this  unlawful  penalty," 
and  enrolled  as  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  body  any  persons 
designated  in  the  Gurley  order.3  The  pastoral  letter  and 
the  memorials  adopted  by  the  Assembly  in  reference  to  the 
same  general  subject  were  equally  worthy  of  odium. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  October, 
1866,  it  disregarded  the  Gurley  ipso  facto  order,  and  called 
the  roll  of  all  the  constituent  members  and  churches  of  the 

1  "  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  South,  of  1867,"  p.  182.  Compare 
"  Minutes  of  General  Assembly,  North,  of  1866,"  p.  44. 

2  "  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  a  debate  extending  through  two  weeks, 
not  even  one  speaker  from  the  majority  has  touched  the  merits  of  the  ques- 
tion before  the  house  either  by  exposing  the  unsoundness  of  the  principles 
contained  in  the  '  Declaration  and  Testimony,'  or  the  impropriety  of  the  lan- 
guage in  which  these  principles  are  embodied.  We  have  had  denunciation 
without  measure,  but  not  a  word  of  argument  or  proof." — Dr.  J.  H.  Brooks, 
in  "  Concise  Record  of  Assembly  of  1866." 

3  "  Minutes  of  1867,"  p.  183;  "  Minutes  of  Assembly,  North,  of  1866," 
pp.  60,  61.  For  a  very  just  exhibition  of  "  the  bald  confusion  and  incon- 
gruity of  thought  in  the  Gurley  ipso  facto  resolutions,  see  Laws'  letter  to  the 
Synod  of  Missouri  (O.  S.),  pp.  6  ff. 


THE  KENTUCKY  SYNOD  OUTLAWED. 


449 


Synod.  A  certain  segment  of  the  Synod,  under  the  lead 
of  Dr.  Breckinridge,  who  proposed  to  follow  the  Assem- 
bly's Gurley  orders,  withdrew.  Synod  pronounced  the 
Gurley  order  an  overstretch  of  power,  and  said  that  in  the 
declared  contingent  dissolution  of  the  Presbyteries  which 
that  order  effects,  the  Assembly  had  attributed  to  its 
measures  and  ordinances  a  force  and  operation  counte- 
nanced by  no  provision  or  principle  of  the  church.  But 
it  declared  that  it  was  not  the  Synod's  purpose  to  make 
any  change  of  its  formal  ecclesiastical  relations,  but  to  con- 
tinue to  stand  in  its  present  position  of  open  protest  and 
resistance  to  the  enforcement  of  the  acts  of  the  General 
Assemblies  of  1 86 1-66,  "  concerning  doctrine,  loyalty, 
and  freedom,  as  unconstitutional,  and  therefore  null  and 
void."1 

The  number  of  ministers  who  withdrew  was  32.  Over 
half  of  them  were  without  charges.  They  took  with  them 
28  ruling  elders,  representing  a  membership  of  1800.  But 
108  ministers  maintained  connection  with  the  constitu- 
tional Synod,  representing  a  membership  of  about  9800. 
This  Synod  addressed  a  letter  "  to  the  churches  and  peo- 
ple under  its  charge  in  vindication  of  its  course."  2 

The  General  Assembly  of  1867  adopted  an  Encyclopae- 
dic Act  known  as  the  "  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten," 
wherein  they  crowded  into  one  indistinguishable  mass 
the  judicial  cases  of  near  two  hundred  men,  formally  sum- 
moned to  the  Assembly ;  cases  of  repeal  referred  to  this 
by  the  preceding  Assembly ;  cases  of  irregularity  and 
revolutionary  proceedings  in  Presbyteries  and  Synods; 
cases  of  contested  seats  in  the  Assembly ;  they  passed 
upon  all  these  without  any  of  the  usual  forms  of  hearing 
and  trial,  by  one  sweeping  sentence-  of  outlawry  of  two 

1  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  428,  429. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  429.    Compare  "  Minutes  of  Synod  of  Kentucky  of  1866,"  p.  27. 


45o 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


Synods — Kentucky  and  Missouri — and  twelve  Presby- 
teries of  the  church;  they  declared  the  seceders  from  the 
Kentucky  Synod  the  true  Synod,  and  declared  the  regular 
Synod  and  its  Presbyteries  no  longer  the  Synod  and  Pres- 
byteries of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  also  passed  sev- 
eral acts  in  accord  with  the  foregoing  "  for  depriving  the 
churches  of  Kentucky  of  their  property  and  the  control  of 
the  schools  which  their  piety  and  liberality  had  founded."  1 
Hence,  the  Synod,  at  a  called  meeting  in  Lexington,  in 
June,  1867,  declared  that  the  General  Assembly  had 
ceased  any  longer  to  be  a  constitutional  body,  had  become 
a  schismatic  and  revolutionary  body,  "  was  no  longer  gov- 
erned by  the  constitution,  but  controlled  by  the  will  of 
the  majority ;  that  the  Assembly  having  by  its  own  acts 
separated  from  the  Synod,  the  Synod  now  makes  solemn 
declaration  of  this  fact  upon  its  records,  and,  further,  de- 
clares that  it  will  in  future  govern  its  actions  by  this  recog- 
nized sundering  of  all  its  relations  to  the  Assembly,  by 
the  act  of  that  body  itself."  2 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  Synod 
prepared  a  letter  to  the  Southern  Assembly,  to  sit  at 
Nashville  in  November,  1867.  The  letter  expressed  the 
Synod's  belief  that  "  Southern  Presbyterian  churches  and 
church  courts  have,  in  a  good  degree,  preserved  pure  and 
unimpaired  the  constitutional  Presbyterianism  of  the  un- 
divided church  from  1837  to  1861,"  and  asserted  that  the 
Synod  with  its  Presbyteries,  churches,  and  people,  still 
true  to  the  native  instinct  of  genuine  Presbyterianism,  and 
unwilling  to  stand  isolated  from  their  brethren,  desired 
still  to  be  in  communion  and  organic  union  with  all  who 
maintain  the  principles  of  church  order  so  dear  to  their 
fathers  and  themselves.     It  further  asserted  that  it  was  a 

1  "  Minutes  of  Assembly,  South,  of  1867,"  p.  183. 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  429. 


CONSUMMATION  OF  THE  UNION. 


451 


first  duty  to  ascertain  whether  such  a  union  could  be 
formed,  and  to  what  extent. 

As  a  step  toward  the  accomplishment  of  this  end,  the 
letter  tells  how  they  had  come  to  be  an  independent 
Synod ;  makes  a  statement  of  the  doctrines  and  principles 
for  which  this  Synod  and  its  Presbyteries  had  been  con- 
tending in  their  controversies  with  the  General  Assembly, 
North — setting  forth  their  views  concerning  the  doctrine 
of  the  Kingship  of  Christ,  and  the  manner  in  which  Christ 
executeth  the  office  of  a  king  in  his  visible  church ;  con- 
cerning the  origin,  nature,  and  functions  of  church  govern- 
ment as  contrasted  with  and  related  to  the  civil  govern- 
ment ;  concerning  the  powers  of  the  several  courts  of  the 
church,  their  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the  office- 
bearers and  people ;  concerning  the  interpretation  of  our 
Form  of  Government  and  Discipline  with  reference  to  the 
functions,  powers,  and  mutual  relations  of  the  courts  of 
the  church. 

The  Synod  expressed  a  desire  to  have  its  letter  embodied 
in  the  historical  records  of  the  church  as  a  record  of  the 
church's  appreciation  of  the  inestimable  value  of  these 
principles  as  the  bulwark  of  Christian  liberty,  wherewith 
Christ  sets  his  people  free,  and  a  definitely  expressed 
statute  testimony,  to  which  ready  appeal  "  might  be  made 
thereafter  "  as  direct  authority  in  support  of  "  those  who 
stand  for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  against  those  who 
again  may  treacherously  attempt  to  subvert  the  doctrine 
and  order  of  Christ's  house."  1  The  Kentucky  Presby- 
teries were  warmly  welcomed.  Their  commissioners  ap- 
peared in  the  Assembly  of  1868. 

The  Southern  Church  had  again  taken  a  large  body 
into  her  bosom ;  but  it  was  no  alien  body.    It  was  a  mar- 

1  For  the  entire  letter  see  "  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,  South,  of 
1867,"  p.  784. 


452 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


riage  between  two  who  saw  alike  substantially.  The 
Synod  of  Kentucky  had  been  an  Old  School  body.  It 
had  been  a  witness  for  "  the  supremacy  of  Christ's  crown 
and  covenant." 

In  1870  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Kentucky 
was  received  into  organic  union  with  the  Southern  Church, 
on  the  same  terms  that  the  Associate  Reformed  Presby- 
tery of  Alabama  had  been.  It  brought  four  ministers, 
their  elders  and  churches. 

Union  with  the  Synod  of  Missouri  was  effected  in  1874. 
The  history  of  this  Synod  between  1861  and  1867  is  so 
like  that  of  Kentucky  that  it  may  be  dispatched  in  a  few 
words.  In  October  of  1861  it  unanimously  declared  that 
the  Assembly  of  1861  had  in  the  notorious  Spring  Reso- 
lutions taken  an  action  that  was  "  unscriptural,  unwise, 
and  unjust;  of  no  binding  force  whatever  on  this  Synod, 
nor  upon  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  within  " 
its  bounds.  Nor  did  it  feel  less  keenly  the  apostasy  and 
usurpations  of  the  successive  Assemblies  while  the  war 
lasted.  Its  ministers  and  people  suffered  grievously  at  the 
hands  of  the  "loyal"  brethren  at  the  North:  witness  the 
case  of  the  devoted  and  heroic  McPheeters.1  It,  too,  was 
horrified  at  the  measures  of  the  Pittsburg  Assembly  of 
1865,  which,  at  a  time  when  "  the  soldiers  who  had  stood 
arrayed  against  each  other  on  the  battlefield  were  meet- 
ing as  friends,"  and  when  "  wise  men  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation  rejoiced  in  the  hope  of  a  speedy  restoration  of  fra- 
ternal feeling  throughout  the  land,"  passed  orders  at  once 
ungenerous  and  unscriptural — "  required  all  sessions,  Pres- 
byteries, and  Synods  of  the  church  under  its  jurisdiction 
to  examine  persons,  not  from  the  North,  but  from  the 
South,  touching  their  relation  to  the  Confederate  Govern- 

1  See  Grasty's  "  Life  of  McPheeters."  Nothing  more  heroic  than  the  life 
of  Dr.  McPheeters  happened  during  our  Civil  War. 


UNION  WITH  THE  SYNOD  (>/■'  MISSOURI,  0.  S.  453 

ment  and  their  views  of  slavery,"  and  compel  them  "  to 
make  confession  of  sin  under  pain  of  exclusion  from  the 
fellowship  and  sympathy  of  their  brethren  in  the  Lord,"  if 
they  had  voluntarily  supported  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment or  had  certain  views  touching  slavery. 

Many  Missouri  ministers  and  elders  had  signed  the 
noble  "  Declaration  and  Testimony  "  in  the  fall  of  1865.1 

The  reader  recalls  that  the  St.  Louis  Assembly  of  1866 
adopted  the  Gurley  ipso  facto  order,  declaring  the  disso- 
lution of  such  Presbyteries  and  Synods  as  should  allow  a 
signer  of  the  "  Declaration  and  Testimony  "  to  take  his  seat 
as  a  member  of  the  court.  The  Synod  at  its  next  meeting 
resolved,  on  the  ground  that  "  the  Standards  of  the  church 
are  authoritative  above  the  order  of  any  church  court," 
"  that  the  signers  of  the  *  Declaration  and  Testimony  '  are 
not  slanderers,  schismatics,  and  rebels  against  ecclesiastical 
authority,  but  have  simply  exercised  a  great  Protestant 
right  and  discharged  a  solemn  duty ;  .  .  .  that  the  Synod, 
having  no  evidence  that  these  brethren  are  not  in  good 
and  regular  standing  in  their  respective  Presbyteries  and 
Sessions,  cannot,  without  violating  the  constitution,  deny 
them  seats."  2 

Upon  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions  a  minority  of 
the  Synod  withdrew  from  the  house.  The  Synod  or- 
ganized by  the  seceders  has  been  popularly  known  as  the 
Assembly's  Synod.  The  Constitutional  Synod  continued 
to  be  known  up  to  1874  as  the  Old  School  Synod  of 
Missouri. 

The  Old  School  Synod  proposed  to  continue  its  con- 
nection with  the  Old  School  Assembly,  North,  but  not  to 
sink  its  witness  for  the  non-secular  character  of  the  church. 
The  Assembly  of  1867  declared  that  the  commissioners 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Missouri  (O.  S.),  1869,"  pp.  22  et  seq. 

2  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  431,  432. 


454 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


who  represented  the  Presbyteries  in  connection  with  the 
Assembly's  Synod  were  entitled  to  seats,  "  and  ordered  the 
signers  of  the  '  Declaration  and  Testimony,'  and  those  who 
had  acted  with  them,  to  repair  to  "  the  Presbyteries  and 
Synod,  thus  recognized,  "  and  to  sign  a  paper  disowning 
any  intention  of  disrespect  to  the  Assembly  or  of  rebellion 
against  its  authority  in  all  that  had  been  done  by  them 
during  the  controversy."  The  Old  School  Synod  of  1867 
renewed  its  stand  of  1866.  It  would  abandon  neither  its 
right  to  a  place  in  the  Old  School  Assembly,  nor  its  wit- 
nessing for  the  non-secular  character  of  the  church.1  But 
it  was  never  able  to  convert  the  mother-church  to  the 
truth. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  North,  in  spite  of  the  differ- 
ence of  faith,  ruthlessly  paid  court  in  1872  to  our  Synod; 
but  to  no  purpose.  The  Synod  resolved,  1873,  to  unite 
with  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Synod 
could  not  unite  with  the  Northern  Church  without  merg- 
ing its  witness  for  "  the  great  principle — the  exclusiveness 
of  the  spiritual  vocation  of  the  church — which  it  had  pre- 
served intact '2  It  could  not  extinguish  the  lamp  of  its 
"  own  history  by  hiding  under  the  bushel  of  any  church 
stained  with  political  corruptions."  But  it  could  unite 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  South,  for  that  church  had 
maintained  equally  with  the  Synod  of  Missouri  the  non- 
secular  character  of  the  church,  and  "  the  subordination 
and  fidelity  of  the  church  courts,  and  especially  of  the 
General  Assembly,  to  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church."3  It  had  been  against  the  unconstitutional  rule 
of  a  bare  majority. 

In  1874  the  commissioners  of  the  six  Presbyteries  of  the 

1  See  for  these  quotations  and  for  authority  for  the  statements,  "  Minutes 
of  Old  School  Synod  of  Missouri  of  1869,"  pp.  22-26. 

2  Laws'  letter  to  the  Synod  of  Missouri  of  1872,  p.  44. 

3  Laws'  letter  to  the  Synod  of  Missouri  (O.  S.)  of  1872,  p.  26. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  OTHER  BODIES. 


455 


Synod  of  Missouri  were  welcomed  and  enrolled  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly,  South,  at  Columbus.1 

Union  with  other  Associated  Reformed  Presbyteries  in 
North  and  South  Carolina  is  perhaps  near  at  hand. 

3.  Fraternal  Correspondence  with  Other  Bodies. — In 
i#86i  the  Constituting  Assembly,  out  of  its  appreciation  of 
the  precious  import  of  that  memorable  prayer  addressed 
by  the  adorable  Redeemer  to  the  Father,  in  full  view  of 
the  agony  of  the  garden  and  of  the  cross — "  '  That  they 
all  might  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee, 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may  be- 
lieve that  thou  hast  sent  me  ' — and  impelled  by  a  sincere 
desire  to  meet  the  full  measure  of  responsibility  which" 
devolved  upon  it  as  a  branch  of  Christ's  visible  church 
in  the  accomplishment  of  this  vastly  important  endeavor 
avowed  that  it  would  earnestly  try  to  draw  closer  the 
bonds  of  Christian  intercourse  and  communion  between 
all  the  churches  of  like  faith  and  order  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America.2  The  Assembly  has  been  true  to  its 
avowal.  As  a  result  of  its  endeavors  it  has  been  able  to 
point  to  several  unions,  whose  history  has  just  been  detailed. 

The  same  Assembly,  in  the  "  Letter  to  all  the  Churches 
of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  Earth,"  as  we  have  seen, 
expressed  its  desire  to  cultivate  peace  and  charity  with  all 
fellow- Christians  throughout  the  world.  The  Assembly 
of  1862  affirmed  its  belief  that  the  unity  of  God's  people 
is  a  reality,  and  that  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that 
this  unity  should  be  manifested  to  the  world  ;  and  declared 
its  determination,  in  cases  where  such  manifestation  ,was 
not  practicable,  to  do  all  consistent  with  truth  to  promote 
peace  and  charity  between  itself  and  other  churches.3 

1  The  Synod  of  Missouri  brought  67  ministers,  141  churches,  and  8000 
communicants. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1861,"  p.  13. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1862,"  p.  14. 


456 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


The  Assembly  of  1866  went  so  far  as  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  "  chosen  brethren  " — Drs.  Hoge,  Palmer,  and 
Girardeau — to  bear  the  church's  desire  for  fellowship,  as 
far  as  practicable,  with  all  true  disciples  of  our  common 
Lord  and  Saviour  in  all  the  world,  "  to  such  Christian 
churches  and  societies  in  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  and,  if  it  deemed  best,  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  also,  as  the  providence  of  God  might  designate, 
and  to  explain  to  them,  as  opportunity  might  offer,  the 
character,  condition,  work,  and  prospects  of  our  beloved 
Zion ;  and  to  receive  such  contributions  in  money  as  might 
be  voluntarily  offered  in  aid  of  our  general  schemes  of 
evangelization.1 

In  accord  with  the  desires  thus  expressed,  the  church 
has,  in  addition  to  the  correspondence  eventuating  in  the 
cases  of  union  of  which  we  have  related,  carried  on  a  ge- 
nial correspondence  with  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States ;  has  enjoyed  similar  interchanges 
with  several  European  churches,  notably  with  the  im- 
poverished but  heroic  Waldensian  churches,  for  whom  it 
has  long  maintained  the  successful  Mission  School  of 
Miss  Ronzone. 

The  Southern  Church  has  recognized  the  Christian 
character  of  non-Presbyterian  ecclesiastical  bodies  by  the 
interchange  of  Christian  greetings,  e.g.,  that  of  the  Meth- 
odist, Cumberland  Presbyterian,  etc.  It  has  also  recog- 
nized the  Christian  character  of,  and  exchanged  Christian 
greetings  with,  certain  non-ecclesiastical  bodies,  e.g.,  with 
the^Y.  M.  C.  A.,2  though  with  some  scruples  as  to  the 
propriety  of  the  course.  It  has  continued  to  be  chary 
about  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  But  after  a  little  hesita- 
tion in  recognizing  "  the  principle  of  an  irresponsible  alli- 
ance," the  church,  under  the  lead  of  Dr.  Stuart  Robinson 

l  "  Minutes  of  1866,"  p.  433.  2  "  Minutes  of  1881,"  p.  394. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  REFORMED  CHURCH.  457 


and  others,  bore  an  influential  part  in  framing  the  constitu- 
tion and  insuring  the  success  of  the  General  Presbyterian 
Alliance.  This  great  conferential  council,  in  "  seeking  the 
welfare  of  the  weak  and  persecuted  churches,  dissemi- 
nating information  concerning  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
commending  the  Presbyterian  system  as  Scriptural,  dis- 
tributing mission  work,"  etc.,1  has  met  hearty  sympathy 
at  the  hands  of  a  large  part  of  the  Southern  Church.2 
The  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is  allowed  about  thirty 
delegates  in  the  council. 

In  1 87 1  a  correspondence  was  begun  with  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America,  popularly 
known  as  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  Owing  to  the 
non-secular  character  of  this  body,  its  thorough-going 
Calvinistic  creed  and  Presbyterian  polity,  this  correspond- 
ence, opened  for  "  the  cultivation  of  a  mutual  spirit  of 
Christian  sympathy  and  brotherly  love,"  bore  fruit  very 
soon  in  a  plan  of  active  cooperation  in  several  important 
departments  of  church  work.3    This  plan  has  been  fruitful 

1  "  Minutes  of  1877,"  p.  488. 

2  For  the  constitution  of  the  Alliance  see  "  Minutes  of  Presbyterian  Church, 
South,  1877,"  p.  492;  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  508. 

3  In  1875  an  elaborate  plan  of  cooperation  was  adopted  by  the  Assembly 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  General  Synod  on  the  other.  This  plan  embraced 
features  of  co  working  in  publication,  home  missions,  foreign  missions,  and 
education.  The  publishing-house  of  each  denomination  was  to  be  "  the  agent 
and  depository  for  the  sale  of  the  publications  of  the  other  denominations." 
,The  publication  board  and  committee  were  "  empowered  to  unite  in  the  pub- 
lication of  a  child's  paper."  It  was  "  recommended  that  the  members  of 
the  Reformed  Church  consider  with  great  sympathy  that  department  of  the 
Assembly's  home  missionary  work"  which  was  concerned  with  the  "  evan- 
gelization of  the  colored  population  of  the  South,"  "  and  send  their  contri- 
butions to  the  general  cause  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Assembly's  Committee." 

The  plan  settled  the  important  principle  that  the  contiguous  foreign  mis- 
sions of  the  two  churches  ought  to  aim  at  the  establishment  of  one  united 
church,  and  decided  that  the  principle  should  be  carried  into  practice  wher- 
ever such  contiguity  should  exist,  that  such  churches  should  "  treat  each 
other  as  though  they  had  been  planted  and  nurtured  by  one  and  the  same 
denomination."  It  decided  that  young  men  in  either  church  who  should 
contemplate  the  work  of  foreign  missions  should  upon  recommendation  from 
the  board  or  committee  of  their  own  church  be  as  eligible  to  the  appointment 


458  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTER/ A  XS.       [Chap.  v. 


of  much  good  in  the  foreign  mission  fields.  The  mission- 
aries of  the  two  churches,  who  are  contiguous,  labor  to- 
gether for  the  upbuilding  of  one  united  church.  In  general 
there  is  no  other  church  with  which  the  Southern  Church 
has  enjoyed  such  hearty  and  noble  good-fellowship. 

Correspondence  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America  was  begun  in  1870.  The  rela- 
tions with  this  church  up  to  1870  had  been  by  no  means 
pleasant.  The  unconstitutional  and  Erastian  measures 
which  the  Old  School  Assembly  of  186 1  enacted — the 
Spring  Resolutions — were  the  forerunners  of  a  long  series 
of  acts  of  usurpation  and  bitter  hostility.  The  reader  can 
guess  at  these  from  what  has  been  brought  out  in  connec- 
tion with  the  histories  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri.  Passing  over,  therefore,  all  the  irritating,  rasp- 
ing acts  of  intervening  years,  we  come  at  once  to  the 
Pittsburg  Assembly,  Old  School,  of  1865,  some  of  whose 
acts,  even  at  the  cost  of  slight  repetition,  it  is  necessary  to 
place  before  the  reader  at  this  point. 

by  that  of  the  other  as  by  their  own,  and  that  such  persons  should  come 
under  the  care  of  the  board  or  committee  appointing  them,  but  should  not  be 
required  to  transfer  their  ecclesiastical  relations  to  any  American  Presbytery 
or  classis  of  the  body  into  whose  missionary  service  they  should  come.  The 
churches  were  to  encourage  an  equal  acquaintance  with  the  missions  of  the 
two  churches,  in  order  that  the  variety  of  missionary  fields  thus  presented 
might  give  scope  and  stimulation  to  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  two  bodies. 
To  this  end  there  was  to  be  speedy  communication  of  matters  of  special  in- 
terest in  the  missions  of  either  board  or  committee  to  the  other. 

The  students  of  either  church  were  to  be  allowed  to  study  in  the  semina- 
ries of  the  other ;  and  such  students  as  chose  to  study  in  a  seminary  of  the 
other  church  were  not  to  suffer  adverse  discrimination  in  the  appropriation 
of  funds  for  their  support  by  the  board  or  committee  of  their  own  church. 

It  was  provided  that  any  provision  of  this  scheme  of  cooperative  union 
might  at  any  time  be  omitted  or  abrogated  by  either  body  without  impairing 
the  validity  of  those  other  provisions  on  which  they  should  agree.  The  joint 
publication  of  the  paper  was  discontinued  early.  The  cooperation  has  not 
been  as  active  in  home  missions  as  might  reasonably  have  been  hoped.  But 
tthere  has  been  much  earnest  and  hearty  cooperation  where  circumstances 
have  called  for  it  along  other  lines.  (See  "  Minutes  of  1875,"  pp.  25  ft.  ; 
Alexander's  "  Digest,"  pp.  446-448.) 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  ASSEMBLY,  NORTH.  459 


In  response  to  an  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Rich- 
land, 0.,  and  certain  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Madi- 
son, Ind.,  "asking  the  Assembly  to  drop  from  its  roll  the 
names  of  certain  ministers,  Presbyteries,  and  Synods  in 
the  so-called  Confederate  States,"' the  Assembly  replied: 

WHEREAS,  during  the  existence  of  the  great  rebellion  which  has  disturbed 
the  peace  and  threatened  the  life  of  the  nation,  a  large  number  of  Presby- 
teries and  Synods  in  the  Southern  States,  whose  names  are  on  the  roll  of  the 
General  Assembly  as  constituent  parts  of  the  body,  have  organized  an  Assem- 
bly denominated  "  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Confederate  States  of  Amer- 
ica," in  order  to  render  their  aid  in  the  attempt  to  establish,  by  means  of  the 
rebellion,  a  separate  national  existence,  "and  conserve  and  perpetuate  the 
system  of  slavery,"  1  therefore, 

Resolved,  I.  That  this  Assembly  regards  the  perpetuation  of  negro  slavery 
as  a  great  crime,  both  against  our  National  Government  and  against  God  ;  and 
the  secession  of  those  Presbyteries  and  Synods  from  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
under  such  circumstances  and  for  such  reasons,  as  unwarranted,  schismatical, 
and  unconstitutional.  2.  That  the  General  Assembly  does  not  intend  to  aban- 
don the  territory  in  which  these  churches  are  found,  or  to  compromise  the 
rights  of  any  of  the  church  courts,  or  ministers,  ruling  elders,  and  private 
members  belonging  to  them,  who  are  loyal  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States  and  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  On  the  contrary,  this  General 
Assembly  will  recognize  such  loyal  persons  as  constituting  the  churches, 
Presbyteries,  and  Synods  in  all  the  bounds  of  the  schism,  and  will  use 
earnest  endeavors  to  restore  and  revive  all  such  church  courts.  3.  The 
Assembly  hereby  declares  that  it  will  recognize  as  the  church  the  members 
of  any  church  within  the  bounds  of  the  schism  who  are  loyal  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  whose  views  are  in  harmony  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  with  the  several  testimonies  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery.  And  where 
any  three  ministers  who  entertain  the  views  above  mentioned  belong  to  the 
same  Presbytery,  such  ministers  are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  con- 
tinue their  organization  as  a  Presbytery;  or  any  two  such  ministers  are 
authorized  to  receive  any  minister  of  the  same  views,  regularly  dismissed  to 
them,  and  thus  continue  their  organizations  with  the  churches  above  de- 
scribed in  the  same  bounds,  in  connection  with  this  Assembly.  But  if  a 
sufficient  number  are  not  found  in  one  Presbytery,  they  are  authorized  to 
unite  with  the  loyal  ministers  and  churches  of  one  or  more  adjacent  Presby- 
teries, retaining  the  name  of  one  or  both  such  united  Presbyteries  as  shall 
be  deemed  expedient.  A  similar  course  is  also  authorized  with  regard  to 
Synods.  "2 


1  A  misquotation. 


2  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  p.  560. 


460 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRE  SB  YTERIAXS.       [Chap.  v. 


In  answer  to  an  overture  from  the  Presbytery  of  Cali- 
fornia inquiring  what  course  should  be  pursued  in  admit- 
ting to  their  body  ministers  who  were  known  to  be  disloyal 
to  the  government,  or  who  might  be  suspected  of  disloy- 
alty, the  Assembly  replied  :  that  the  Presbytery  had  a  right 
to  examine  the  intrant  "  on  all  subjects  which  seriously 
affect  the  peace,  purity,  and  unity  of  the  church  "  ;  that 
it  was  an  imperative  duty  in  the  current  "  circumstances 
of  the  country,  when,  after  the  crushing  by  military  force 
an  atrocious  rebellion  against  the  United  States  for  the 
perpetuation  of  slavery,  many  ministers  who  "  had  aided 
this  revolt  "  might  seek  admission  into  Presbyteries  located 
in  the  loyal  States."  Further,  the  Assembly  ordered  that 
all  "  Presbyteries  examine  every  minister  applying  for 
admission  from  any  Presbytery  or  ecclesiastical  body  in 
the  Southern  States,  on  the  following  points  "  :  first,  as  to 
whether  he  had  in  any  way  countenanced  the  rebellion ; 
second,  "  as  to  whether  he  holds  that  the  system  of  negro 
slavery  in  the  South  is  a  divine  institution,  and  that  it  is 
the  1  peculiar  mission  of  the  Southern  Church  to  conserve  ' 
the  institution."  It  ordered  that  a  man  holding  these 
views  should  be  required  to  renounce  them  before  recep- 
tion into  Presbytery.  It  gave  a  similar  injunction  to  its 
Synods  about  receiving  Presbyteries.  It  laid  the  same  order 
on  sessions  to  regulate  their  reception  of  private  members.1 

It  is  no  wonder  that  each  of  these  sets  of  resolutions 
irritated  the  Southern  Church.  It  was  not  true  that  the 
Presbyteries  and  Synods  in  the  Southern  Church  organ- 
ized an  Assembly  in  order  to  render  their  aid  in  the 
attempt  to  establish  by  means  of  the  rebellion  a  separate 
national  existence  and  to  conserve  and  perpetuate  the 
existence  of  slavery.  It  was  antichristian  for  the  Northern 
Assembly  "  to  set  up  a  new  test  and  establish  a  new  term 

1  "  Minutes  of  1865,"  pp.  562-564. 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  ASSEMBLY,  NORTH.      46 1 

of  membership  in  the  church  and  of  standing  in  the  min- 
istry— a  test  authorized  neither  by  the  Word  of  God  nor 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  contrary  to  the  uniform 
declaration  and  practice  of  this  church  from  its  founda- 
tion up  to  the  year  of  1861."  The  recognition  of  two  or 
three  members  of  a  Presbytery  as  a  Presbytery  because 
they  had  been  "loyal,"  and  two  or  three  members  of  a 
local  church  as  the  church  because  they  had  been  loyal, 
and  the  investing  such  loyal  parties  with  all  the  rights, 
religious  and  secular,  belonging  to  the  whole  Presbytery 
or  the  whole  church,  was  calculated  to  stir  up  strife  and 
enable  the  "  loyal "  twos  and  threes  to  filch  away  the 
ecclesiastical  property  throughout  the  South.  These 
resolutions  were  iniquitous.  Their  falsehood  was  clearly 
revealed  and  their  iniquity  nobly  withstood  in  the  Assem- 
bly" by  Dr.  S.  R.  Wilson  and  other  protestants.1  But  in 
answer  to  Dr.  Wilson's  protest  the  Assembly  again  charged 
the  Southern  States  with  sinful  treason,  and  again  mis- 
represented the  Southern  Church  in  relation  to  slavery, 
and  reaffirmed  the  necessity  of  confession  and  repentance 
for  the  grievous  sin  of  treason  before  the  rebels  could  be 
received  into  the  bosom  of  the  church.2 

The  Assembly  of  1866,  at  St.  Louis,  ma'de  an  impres- 
sion not  a  whit  pleasanter.  That  was  the  Assembly  of 
the  notorious  Gurley  ipso  facto  order,  which  did  such  foul 
wrong  to  the  Synods  of  Missouri  and  Kentucky.  That 
Assembly  avowedly  indorsed  the  anti-Southern  attitude 
of  the  Pittsburg  Assembly  as  to  the  conditions  on  which  an 
ex-rebel  might  be  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  mother- 
church.3  That  was  the  Assembly,  too,  that  wrenched 
the  Wall  Street  Church  property  in  Louisville  from  the 

1  "  Minutes  of  Assembly"  (O.  S.),  1865,  pp.  580-584. 

2  "  Minutes"  (O.  S.),  p.  586. 

3  "  Minutes  (O.  S.)  of  1866,"  pp.  79,  85,  114-117. 


462 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap-,  v. 


Southern  members  by  the  aid  of  machinery  prepared  by 
the  Pittsburg  Assembly.  And  that  Assembly  gave  place 
in  its  minutes  to  the  memorial  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention 
of  May  15  to  18,  1866 — a  paper,  if  possible,  more  unworthy 
of  a  body  of  Christian  Presbyters  than  the  other  we  have 
referred  to. 

The  Assembly  of  1867  maintained  the  ground  taken  in 
the  preceding  Assemblies.  But  if  the  Old  School  Assem- 
bly had  made  herself  somewhat  disagreeable  up  to  1867 
to  the  Southern  Presbyterians,  much  more  had  her  sister, 
the  New  School,  as  the  curious  may  see  by  consulting  her 
minutes  from  1861  to  1866. 

In  1868  the  Old  School  Assembly  acknowledged  the 
separate  and  independent  existence  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  South.  In  1869,  on  the  claim  of  "holding  the 
same  ancient  symbols  of  faith,  the  same  forms  of  govern- 
ment and  of  worship,"  the  Old  School  Assembly  expressed 
a  desire  to  be  united  with  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church.1  In  1870  the  United  Assembly  2  of  the  Old  and 
the  New  School  Presbyterians  sent  delegates  to  the  South- 
ern Assembly  sitting  at  Louisville,  to  confer  "  in  respect 
to  opening  a  friendly  correspondence  "  between  the  two 
Assemblies.  This  overture  was  based  on  a  false  assump- 
tion, viz.,  that  mutual  grievances  existed  in  reference  to 
which  it  was  necessary  to  arbitrate.  The  Southern  Church 
had  never  made  a  single  act  of  aggression  on  the  Northern 
Church.  It  had  never  attempted  to  wrest  property  from 
the  Northern  Church.  It  had  never  hesitated  in  receiv- 
ing members  on  the  face  of  their  credentials.  From  1861 
to  1867  it  had  given  a  general  consistent  testimony  to  the 
non-secular  character  of  the  church,  for  the  spirituality  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.    "  No  ingenuity  of  sophistry 

1  "  Minutes  of  1870,"  p.  50. 

2  Union  of  the  two  bodies  had  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1869. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH.  463 


can  transmute  into  political  dogmas  the  scant  allusions  to 
the  historical  reality  of  the  great  struggle  then  pending, 
or  the  thankful  recognition,  in  the  middle  of  a  paragraph, 
of  the  unanimity  with  which  an  invaded  people  rose  to 
the  defense  of  their  hearth-stones  and  the  graves  of  their 
sires,"  nor  what  was  said  about  the  conserving  of  slavery. 

The  Southern  Assembly  answered  that  the  obstructions 
in  the  way  of  a  cordial  intercourse  between  the  two  bodies 
were  entirely  of  a  public  nature,  and  involved  grave  and 
fundamental  principles.  It  pointed  to  its  records  in  proof 
that  it  had  engaged  in  no  act  of  hostility  toward  the 
Northern  Church.  It  declared  that  it  felt  no  enmity  to 
that  church,  and  that  it  was  ready  "  to  exercise  toward  the 
General  Assembly,  North,  such  amity  as  fidelity  to  our 
principles  could  under  any  circumstances  permit."  And 
it  proceeded  to  name  the  difficulties  which  lay  in  the  way 
of  cordial  correspondence,  and  which  should  "  be  distinctly 
met  and  removed,"  viz.  :  1.  Both  the  wings  of  the  United 
Assembly,  North,  had  fatally  complicated  themselves  with 
the  state  in  the  political  utterances  deliberately  pronounced 
year  after  year.  It  was  their  duty  to  purge  themselves 
of  this  error  "  and  place  the  crown  once  more  on  the 
head  of  Jesus  Christ  as  King  in  Zion."  For  the  Southern 
Church  to  undertake  official  correspondence  with  them  as 
they  were  would  be  for  it  to  blunt  its  testimony  concern- 
ing the  nature  and  mission  of  the  church.  2.  The  union 
consummated  between  the  Old  and  New  School  Assem- 
blies, North,  had  been  "  accomplished  by  methods  which 
in  our  judgment  involve  a  total  surrender  of  all  the  great 
testimonies  for  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  grace"  made 
in  1838.  "The  United  Assembly  stands  of  necessity 
upon  an  allowed  latitude  of  interpretation  of  Standards."  1 

1  A  similar  fusion  took  place  between  ourselves  and  the  United  Synod ; 
but  the  difference  between  the  two  cases  is  wide.    "  The  Synod  of  the  South 


464 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


3.  Many  members  of  the  Southern  Church  but  a  short 
time  before  had  been  expelled  "  violently  and  unconstitu- 
tionally "  from  the  Old  School  Assembly,  under  charges 
which,  if  true,  rendered  them  utterly  infamous  before  the 
church  and  the  world.  Every  principle  of  honor  and  faith 
called  for  the  unequivocal  repudiation  of  that  interpretation 
of  the  law  under  which  these  men  were  expelled,  as  a  con- 
dition precedent  to  any  official  correspondence.1  4.  Simi- 
lar charges  had  been  preferred  against  the  whole  Southern 
Presbyterian  Church.  They  could  not  be  quietly  ignored. 
If  true,  the  Southern  Presbyterians  were  not  worthy  of 
the  "  confidence,  respect,  and  Christian  honor  and  love" 
which  were  tendered  in  the  overture.  If  untrue,  all  that 
was  Christian  and  manly  called  for  their  retraction.2  This 
was  not  resentment,  but  the  homage  which  should  always 
be  paid  to  truth. 

The  Northern  Church  was  not  ready  to  sweep  the  ob- 
stacles away,  and  efforts  to  establish  correspondence  were 
discontinued  till  1873.  In  that  year  the  Northern  Assem- 
bly declared  that  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  two  bodies  then  constituting  the 
reunited  church,  all  action  touching  the  brethren  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  brethren  of  the  Old 

united  with  us  upon  the  first  interchange  of  doctrinal  views,  upon  a  square 
acceptance  of  the  Standards,  without  any  metaphysical  hair-splitting  to  find  a 
sense  in  which  to  receive  them,  and  without  any  expunging  of  whole  chapters 
from  the  history  of  the  past,  with  the  sacred  testimonies  with  which  these 
are  filled.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  amalgamation  of  these  bodies  at  the  North 
which  embarrasses  us,  but  it  is  the  method  by  which  it  is  achieved."  ("  Min- 
utes of  1870,"  p.  539 — the  pastoral  letter  explaining  to  the  people  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Northern  delegates.) 

1  This  the  pastoral  letter  further  explicates,  as  follows:  "  We  require  as 
an  indispensable  condition  to  all  correspondence  a  renunciation  of  that  theory 
of  church  government  which  practically  obliterates  the  lower  church  courts 
and  destroys  the  appellate  character  of  the  General  Assembly,  under  which 
that  unrighteous  decision  was  reached  against  the  Synods  of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri."    ("  Minutes  of  1870,"  p.  540.) 

2  "  Minutes  of  1870,"  p.  450. 


CORRESPONDENCE  117  77/  PRESBYTERIANSi  NO  A' 77/.  465 

School  Synod  of  Missouri  had  been  since  the  reunion,  and 
was  then,  null  and  void.1  It  expressed  confidence  in  the 
Christian  character  of  the  Southern  brethren,  and  affirmed 
its  belief  that  the  barriers  of  separation  would  be  removed 
oa  more  intimate  communion.  With  regard  to  the  rela- 
tion of  church  to  state,  the  Assembly  called  attention  to 
certain  statements  and  principles  found  in  their  Standards.2 
It  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  like  committee 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Southern  Church.3 

In  response  to  this  overture,  and  at  the  instance  of  two 
restive  Presbyteries,  the  Southern  Assembly  showed,  by 
appealing  to  its  records,  that  in  the  true  idea  of  the  com- 
munion of  the  saints  it  had  ever  been  willing  to  hold  fel- 
lowship with  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincer- 
ity, and  especially  to  establish  intimate  relations  with  all 
bodies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  struggling  to  maintain 
the  true  principles  of  the  same  confession.  It  recalled  and 
indorsed  the  position  taken  by  the  Assembly  of  1870  in 
setting  forth  the  barriers  to  union.  Nevertheless,  because 
of  its  desire  to  follow  the  things  that  make  for  peace,  it 
appointed  an  uninstructed  committee  to  confer  with  the 
committee  of  the  Northern  Church.  It  candidly  asserted, 
however,  that  it  did  not  contemplate  in  this  move  organic 
union.4  A  minority  in  the  Assembly,  respectable  for  its 
size  and  ability,  was  in  favor  of  declining  official  corre- 
spondence until  the  fundamental  difficulties  which  had  been 
set  forth  in  1870  should  be  removed.  This  minority  was 
sagacious  enough  to  see  that  the  overture  of  the  North- 
ern Assembly  of  1873  afforded  no  sufficient  reason  for 

1  The  resolution  referred  to  was  in  these  words  :  "  That  no  rule  or  prece- 
dent which  does  not  stand  approved  by  both  bodies  shall  be  of  any  authority 
in  the  united  body,  except  in  so  far  as  such  rule  or  precedent  may  affect  the 
rights  of  property  founded  thereon."    ("  Minutes  of  1870,"  p.  516.) 

2  It  made  reference  to  Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  xxxi.,  sec.  iv.,  and  to 
Form  of  Government,  chap,  i.,  sees.  i.  and  vii. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1874,"  pp  500  ff.  4  Ibid.,  p.  503. 


466  THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 

appointing  the  committee  of  conference.  It  saw  that  the 
overture  evaded  "  the  very  point  it  pretended  to  meet, 
assuring  us  that  both  bodies  composing  their  Assembly 
unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  making  '  null  and  void 
and  of  no  binding  effect  all  action  touching  their  brethren 
adhering  to  the  Southern  Assembly,'  "  whereas  the  united 
body  had  lately  adopted,  and  made  a  part  of  their  record, 
a  paper  which  indorsed  in  the  most  formal  and  unequivo- 
cal manner  the  very  principles  which  the  Southern  Church 
has  always  protested  against,  viz.,  a  decision  of  the  civil 
court  in  the  case  of  the  Walnut  Street  Church,  Louis- 
ville, Ky.1 

Nor  was  the  minority  gifted  with  a  constitution  so  con- 
tradictory as  to  be  able  to  appreciate  the  expressions  of 
confidence  in  the  "  soundness  of  doctrine  and  Christian 
character"  of  the  Southern  Church,  contained  in  the  re- 
cent overture,  in  the  face  of  the  abusive  and  slanderous 
charges,  touching  doctrine,  character,  and  motives,  so  often 
preferred  and  never  once  openly  and  squarely  retracted. 
As  for  the  reference  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  Church 
to  the  definition  in  their  Standards  touching  the  relation 
of  church  to  state,  it  was  puerile.  It  had  held  those  Stan- 
dards in  1 86 1  ;  had  held  them  through  all  those  years  from 
1 86 1  to  1867.  It  was  known  to  have  formed  the  habit  of 
breaking  them.    It  gloried  in  having  broken  them,  in  hav- 

1  "  Minutes  of  1874,"  p.  465.  For  the  estimate  which  the  Northern  As- 
sembly put  on  the  decision,  see  its  "  Digest  "  (Moore's),  pp.  250,  251,  where 
we  have  these  words :  "In  an  elaborate  opinion  the  judges  have  held  for 
substance  that  the  courts  of  law  must  accept  as  final  and  conclusive  the  deci- 
sion of  the  General  Assembly  on  subjects  purely  ecclesiastical,  and  must  give 
full  effect  to  these  decisions  in  settling  the  property  rights  of  litigants.  The 
Assembly  will  not  be  slow  to  appreciate  the  value  of  this  opinion."  (Moore's 
"  Digest,"  p.  251.) 

Herein  we  see  that  the  General  Assembly,  North,  has  solemnly  and  form- 
ally adopted  the  theory  that  the  General  Assembly  is  the  judge  of  the  con- 
stitutionality of  its  own  acts.  It  can,  if  it  chooses,  by  the  voice  of  its  bare 
majority  deprive  all  lower  courts  of  every  right.  It  can,  if  it  chooses,  plun- 
der, ad  infinitum,  Synods,  Presbyteries,  and  congregations. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH*  467 


ing  wheeled  the  church  into  the  political  fight.  It  had 
never  gone  over  its  records.  It  had  made  no  confession 
of  error  for  discrowning  Jesus  and  putting  Caesar  in  his 
stead.  For  these  and  such  reasons  the  minority  held  that 
to  change  posture  toward  the  Northern  Assembly  was  for 
the  Southern  Church  to  suppress  its  testimony  to  the  truth 
and  break  the  church's  glorious  record  in  the  past.1 

The  committees  of  conference  met  in  Baltimore  in  Janu- 
ary, 1875.  The  Northern  committee  proposed  that  the 
Southern  committee  join  with  itself  in  recommending  to 
the  respective  Assemblies  the  interchange  of  delegates,  and 
thus  their  reciprocal  recognition  of  each  other  as  corre- 
sponding bodies.  It  professed  its  hope  that  such  a  course 
would  speedily  lead  to  an  adjustment  of  matters  of  equal 
interest  to  both  bodies,  in  the  work  of  missions  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  to  cooperation  in  the  great  work  of  evan- 
gelization. It  did  not  know  of  any  reasons  why  fraternal 
relations  should  not  be  established.2 

The  Southern  committee  proceeded  to  set  forth  in  a 
manly  and  Christian  way  the  obstacles  which  had  debarred 
the  Southern  Assembly  from  holding  official  intercourse 
with  the  Northern  Assembly,  and  what  was  necessary  for 
their  removal.  It  summed  up  these  obstructions  under 
two  heads:  "Unjust  and  injurious  accusations  preferred 
against  the  wJwle  Southern  Presbyterian  Church;  and  the 
course  pursued  in  regard  to  church  property.'"  Under  the 
head  of  "  unjust  and  injurious  accusations  "  it  specified 
"  the  charge  that  the  Southern  Assembly  was  organized  in 
the  interest  of  and  to  subserve  the  ends  of  the  Confederate 
Government" ;  the  charge  "that  the  Southern  Assembly 
had  changed  its  grounds  on  the  subject  of  slavery  so  as 

1  Compare  "  Minutes  of  1874,"  pp.  497  ff. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1875,"  p.  82.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  sons  of  Jacob 
had  shown  repentance  if  they  had  been  as  strong  as  Joseph  when  they  dis- 
covered him. 


468 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


to  hold  opinions  which  were  heretical  and  blasphemoics 
"  the  charge  of  schism  which  is  made  against  the  Southern 
Church."  1  The  committee  refuted  the  charges  by  an  appeal 
to  the  records,  and  justified  its  church  in  her  past  course  by 
a  reference  to  the  acts  of  the  Northern  Church.  It  denied 
that  the  "  Concurrent  Declaration  "  2  had  removed  the  diffi- 
culties mentioned.  The  declaration  when  made  was  made 
without  any  reference  to  the  Southern  Assembly.  If  it 
is  any  sort  of  retraction  of  the  slander  which  the  Southern 
Church  has  suffered,  it  is  not  a  square  and  open  retrac- 
tion. And  since  its  passing  the  Assembly  had  persisted 
in  a  course — the  Walnut  Street  case — "  which  by  implica- 
tion made  many  of  the  same  charges  over  again." 

Finally,  the  committee  affirmed  that  the  course  pursued 
in  regard  to  church  property  by  the  Northern  Assembly 
was  a  serious  obstacle.  And  the  iniquitous  methods  of 
settling  disputes  about  church  property,  upon  legal  techni- 
calities, the  false  and  ridiculous  principles  adopted  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  settling  the  Wal- 
nut Street  Church  case — that  of  making  the  judgment  of 
an  accidental  majority  of  the  highest  church  court  of  final 
authority  in  interpreting  the  constitution  of  the  church — 
and  the  adoption  of  that  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
formally  by  the  Assembly  of  1872,  were  animadverted 
upon  and  condemned.  A  proposal  was  made  to  settle 
the  property  disputes  by  arbitration  and  upon  moral  rights 
as  a  basis. 

The  Northern  committee  rejoined  that  in  order  to  the 
establishment  of  fraternal  relations,  the  interchange  of  del- 
egates, it  was  not  necessary  that  all  the  doings  of  the  cor- 
responding bodies  be  approved.  It  overlooked  the  fact 
that  there  were  hindrances  to  even  fraternal  relations.  It 
claimed  not  to  be  negotiating  with  reference  to  organic 

1  "  Minutes  of  1875,"  pp.  83-85.       2  See  this  in  Note  1,  p.  465. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH.  469 

union.  It  seemed  to  forget  that  organic  union  had  from 
the  start  been  the  ultimate  aim.  It  asserted  that  if  the 
Northern  Church  had  made  deliverances  unconstitutional 
and  inconsistent  with  the  proper  functions  of  ecclesiastical 
assemblies,  the  Southern  Assembly  had  committed  the 
same  offense.1  It  recited  its  Assembly's  declaration  to 
Dr.  J.  H.  Brooks  and  others  of  the  Old  School  Synod  in 
Missouri  in  1874,  declaring  everything  done  in  the  past 
contrary  to  the  "  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechism,  Form  of 
Government,  and  Book  of  Discipline  "  to  be  null  and  void.2 
It  affirmed  that  by  "  the  concurrent  resolutions  "  the  charges 
of  "  heresy  and  blasphemy  "  against  the  Southern  brethren 
had  been  declared  "  null  and  void,  and  therefore  of  no 
binding  effect  and  not  to  be  pleaded  as  precedent  in  the 
future  "  ;  that  the  charges  made  had  been  made  in  peculiar 
times,  but  were  a  part  of  history,  and  that  it  was  idle  to 
talk  of  erasing  them.  It  recounted  the  several  overtures 
for  union,  made  in  1869,  1870,  and  1873.  Finally,  it  re- 
affirmed its  belief  that  there  was  no  sufficient  cause  for 
not  establishing  fraternal  relations. 

The  Southern  committee  replied  that  there  were  hin- 
drances in  the  way  of  official  fraternal  relations.  It  chal- 
lenged a  comparison  of  the  records  in  disproof  of  the  asser- 
tion that  the  Southern  Church  had  prostituted  herself  to 
the  state  as  the  Northern  Church  had  herself.  It  showed 
the  utter  insufficiency  of  the  Concurrent  Declarations  to 
atone  for  the  slander  done  the  Southern  Church.  It  de- 
sired a  plain  and  direct  expression  of  regret  on  the  part  of 
the  Northern  Church  for  these  wrongs — wrongs  such  as 

1  For  a  sufficient  refutation  of  this  position,  see  the  first  section  of  this 
chapter.  The  mistakes  of  the  Southern  Church  in  this  respect  were  transient 
lapses. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1875,"  pp.  90-93.  This  declaration  to  Dr.  Brooks  is  mere 
farce.  Who  is  the  judge  as  to  whether  the  Assembly  has  done  anything  un- 
constitutional?   The  accidental  majority  of  an  Assembly! 


470 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


no  other  evangelical  church  in  modern  times  had  dared 
to  heap  on  another. 

The  Northern  committee  was  not  disposed  to  ask  its 
Assembly  to  make  this  expression  of  regret.  It  expressed 
the  pious  desire  that  the  Southern  Presbyterians  might 
look  as  leniently  on  the  sins  of  the  Northern  Assembly  as 
the  Northern  Assembly  would  look  on  the  proceedings  of 
the  Southern  Assembly.1 

This  virtually  ended  the  conference.  The  action  of  the 
Southern  committee  had  been  in  all  respects  worthy.  The 
Northern  Church  went  far  in  her  apostasy,  meddling  with 
the  affairs  of  Caesar.  She  must  repent  of  this  apostasy 
before  she  can  be  trusted.  He  who  knows  anything  of 
the  power  of  habit  over  a  church,  as  over  an  individual, 
to  make  it  tread  down  principle  by  moral  inertia  and  under 
external  inducements,  knows  that  for  years  to  come,  in 
similar  circumstances,  the  Northern  Church  would  go  to 
equal  lengths  again,  unless  she  repent  most  deeply.  She 
shows  no  repentance  for  what  she  did,  she  rather  glories 
in  her  political  measures  of  the  war  time. 

The  Southern  Assembly  of  1875  approved  the  action  of 
its  Baltimore  committee,  particularly  of  the  statement  of  the 
issue  between  the  churches  by  the  committee,  and  its  demand 
for  a  disapproval  of  the  imputations  cast  upon  the  Southern 
Church  by  the  Northern  Assemblies  from  1861  to  1867. 

But  the  Assembly  of  1876  at  Savannah,  in  response  to 
an  overture  from  the  St.  Louis  Presbytery,  in  order  to  re- 
move a  misapprehension  existing  in  the  "  minds  of  some 
of  our  people  as  to  the  spirit  "  of  the  action  of  the  Balti- 
more Conference,  and  "  in  order  to  show  our  disposition  to 
remove  on  our  part  real  or  seeming  hindrances  to  friendly 
feeling,"  explicitly  declared  that  "  while  condemning  cer- 
tain acts  and  deliverances  of  the  Northern  General  As- 

I  "  Minutes  of  1875,"  pp.  96  ff. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH  47 1 

sembly,  no  acts  or  deliverances  of  the  Southern  General 
Assembly  are  to  be  construed  *or  admitted  as  impugning 
in  any  way  the  Christian  character  of  the  Northern  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  or  of  the  historical  bodies  of  which  it  is 
successor."1 

Subsequently  the  Savannah  Assembly  received  a  tele- 
gram from  the  Northern  Assembly,  then  in  session  at 
Brooklyn,  reiterating  its  belief  that  "  no  adjustment  of 
differences  "  can  be  "  accomplished  by  the  rehearsal  of  the 
past,"  and  reiterating  ff  its  cordial  desire  to  establish  fra- 
ternal relations  "  with  the  Southern  Assembly,  "  on  terms 
of  perfect  equality  and  reciprocity  as  soon  "  as  it  should 
be  "  agreeable  to  their  brethren  to  respond  to  this  assur- 
ance by  a  similar  expression." 

The  Southern  Assembly,  on  receipt  of .  this  telegram, 
replied  that  it  was  "  ready  most  cordially  to  enter  on  fra- 
ternal relations  with  the  Northern  body  on  any  terms  hon- 
orable to  both  parties." 

In  its  reply  the  Southern  Assembly  recited  also  the  ac- 
tion which  it  had  just  taken  in  answer  to  the  Presbytery 
of  St.  Louis.2  On  receiving  the  paper  from  the  Savan- 
nah Assembly,  the  Brooklyn  Assembly  turned  parrot  and 
chattered  forth : 

The  overture  of  this  Assembly  having  been  received  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  South  with  such  a  cordial  expression  of  gratification,  the  com- 
mittee recommended  that  the  same  resolution,  declarative  of  the  spirit  in 
which  this  action  is  taken,  be  adopted  by  this  Assembly,  viz.  :  "  In  order  to 
show  our  disposition  to  remove  on  our  part  all  real  or  seeming  hindrance  to 
friendly  feeling,  the  Assembly  explicitly  declares  that,  while  condemning 
certain  acts  and  deliverances  of  the  Southern  Assembly,  no  acts  or  deliver- 
ances of  the  Northern  Assembly,  nor  of  the  historical  bodies  of  which  the 
present  Assembly  is  the  successor,  are  to  be  construed  or  admitted  as  im- 
pugning in  any  way  the  Christian  character  of  the  Southern  General  Assem- 
bly, or  of  the  historical  bodies  of  which  it  is  the  successor."  3 

1  "  Minutes  of  1876,"  p.  242.      .      2  Ibid.,  p.  243. 

3  "  Minutes  of  1877,"  pp.  412-413;  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  491. 


472 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


The  Southern  Assembly  of  1877,  m  reply  to  this  from 
the  Northern  Assembly,  resolved : 

That  it  could  not  regard  this  communication  as  satisfactory,  because  it 
could  discover  in  it  no  reference  whatever  to  the  first  and  main  part  of  the 
paper  adopted  by  the  Assembly  at  Savannah  and  communicated  to  the  Brook- 
lyn  Assembly.  It  further  said  that  it  could  add  nothing  on  this  subject  to 
the  action  of  the  Assembly  of  St.  Louis  adopting  the  basis  proposed  by  our 
Committee  of  Conference  at  Baltimore,  and  reaffirmed  by  the  Assembly  at 
Savannah  ;  that  if  the  brethren  of  the  Northern  Church  could  meet  them  on 
these  terms,  which  truth  and  righteousness  seem  to  require,  then  they  were 
ready  to  establish  such  relations  with  them  during  the  present  sessions  of  the 
Assemblies.1 

Little  more  passed  between  the  Assemblies  until  1882. 
In  that  year  four  overtures  went  up  to  the  Southern 
Assembly,  having  substantially  the  same  object.  They 
requested  the  General  Assembly  "  to  establish  fully  and 
formally  what  are  called  fraternal  relations"  with  the 
Northern  Assembly,  "  by  sending  delegates  forthwith  to 
that  body,"  then  in  session  at  Springfield,  111.  In  response, 
the  Assembly  adopted  the  following  minute : 

While  receding  from  no  principle,  we  hereby  declare  our  regret  for  and 
withdrawal  of  all  expressions  of  our  Assembly  which  may  be  regarded  as 
reflecting  upon,  or  offensive  to,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America.  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this 
paper  be  sent  by  telegraph  to  the  General  Assembly  now  at  Springfield,  111., 
for  their  prayerful  consideration,  and  mutatis  mutandis  for  their  reciprocal 
concurrence,  as  affording  a  basis  for  the  exchange  of  delegates  forthwith.2 

In  reply  the  Springfield  Assembly  telegraphed  to  the 
Atlanta  Assembly  that  the  message  from  the  Southern 
Assembly  had  been  received  with  warm  enthusiasm  ;  and 
that,  in  order  to  remove  all  difficulties  in  the  way  of  that 
full  and  formal  fraternal  correspondence  between  the  two 
Assemblies,  which  it,  on  its  part,  was  prepared  to  accept, 
it  had  adopted  the  following :  "  While  receding  from  no 

1  "  Minutes  of  1877,"  pp.  412,  413;  Alexander's  "  Digest,"  p.  491. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1882,"  p.  530. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH.  473 

principle,  etc."1  That  is,  the  Northern  Assembly  made 
its  bow  to  the  Southern  with  its  suggested  little  speech  of 
regret  for  whatever  in  its  past  acts  might  be  considered 
as  reflecting  on  the  Southern  brethren.  This  "  Tweedle 
to  me  and  I  tweedle  to  you,"  tit-for-tat  passage  between 
the  Assemblies  has  nothing  massive  or  grand  or  beautiful 
in  it.  In  attempting  to  extort  this  quasi-apology  the 
Southern  Assembly  stultified  herself.  She  had  committed 
no  act  for  which  she  needed  apologize  to  the  Northern 
Church.  She  seemed  to  apologize.  At  this  time  she  low- 
ered her  banner.  She  merged  her  witness  for  the  truth 
— forsaking  the  nobler  course  under  the  whips  of  some 
goody-goody  scolds.  And  the  great  Presbyterian  Church, 
North,  wears  no  aspect  of  dignity  in  saying  its  little  speech. 
If  it  believed  it  had  done  no  wrong,  it  should  have  acted 
differently ;  it  should  not  have  said  its  suggested  speech. 
If  it  was  conscious  of  wrong,  it  should  have  made  a  noble 
apology.  Its  acts  concerning  loyalty  and  rebellion,  its 
slanderous  accusations  against  Southern  brethren,  were 
grounds  for  just  indignation,  and  should  have  been  with- 
drawn as  St.  Paul  would  know  how  to  retract  if  he  were 
made  conscious  of  fault. 

But  the  moderator  of  the  Springfield  Assembly  tele- 
graphed to  the  moderator  of  the  Atlanta  Assembly  that 
in  the  action  just  taken  the  Northern  Assembly  disclaimed 
"  any  reference  to  the  actions  of  preceding  Assemblies 
concerning  loyalty  and  rebellion,"  but  referred  "  only  to 
those  concerning  schism,  heresy,  and  blasphemy." 

This  troubled  the  Southern  Assembly ;  but  on  inquiry 
it  was  informed  that  the  action  mentioned  in  the  moder- 
ator's unofficial  telegram  did  "not  modify  but  explained 
the  concurrent  resolutions  "  just  passed,  and  that  the  ex- 
planation was  on  its  face.2 

1  "  Minutes  of  1882,"  p.  541.  2  Ibid.,  p.  552. 


474 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


The  Northern  Church  gloried  too  much  in  her  political 
measures  of  1 86 1  and  1867  to  retract  them. 

The  Southern  Assembly  expressed  its  satisfaction,  and 
decided  to  send  delegates  to  the  next  Assembly  North. 
The  church  was  not  so  well  satisfied.  There  was  resiling 
in  1882-83. 

In  1883  committees  of  conference  on  cooperation,  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  Northern  Assembly,  were  appointed 
by  the  Assemblies  to  confer  "  in  regard  to  plans  looking 
to  more  successful  conduct  of  the  work  of  the  church  in 
such  regions  and  concerning  such  interests  as  are  more  or 
less  common  to  the  two  churches."  As  a  result  of  their 
conference  the  committees  recommended  to  their  Assem- 
blies the  joint  occupancy  of  Danville  Seminary,  a  plan  of 
cooperation  in  home  missions,  and  comity  in  matters  of 
discipline  such  as  would  forbid  the  Northern  Church 
throwing  open  its  doors  to  those  under  discipline  in  the 
Southern  Church,  or  vice  versa.  The  recommendations 
of  the  committees  were  rejected,  save  the  last,  relating  to 
discipline,  which  the  Assembly  adopted.1 

But  in  1887  the  Northern  General  Assembly  was  sup- 
posed, in  some  quarters,  to  have  indorsed  somewhat  more 
fully  the  tenets  of  the  spirituality  of  the  church  ;  and  in 
response  to  several  overtures  touching  organic  union,  the 
Assembly,  South,  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  with  a 
similar  committee  of  the  Northern  Church  "  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  inquiring  into  and  ascertaining  the  facts  as  to 
the  point  above  mentioned,  and  as  to  the  position  that 
Assembly  proposes  to  maintain  as  to  colored  churches, 
ecclesiastical  boards,  and  any  other  subjects  now  regarded 
as  obstacles  in  the  way  of  united  effort  for  the  propagation 
of  the  gospel,  and  report  these  facts  to  the  next  Assembly 
for  such  action  as  they  may  warrant."  2 

1  "  Minutes  of  1884,"  p.  19;  Alexander's  '  Digest,"  p.  504. 

2  "  Minutes  of  1887,"  p.  222. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH.  475 


These  committees  met,  in  December,  1887,  in  joint  con- 
ference in  Louisville.  The  Southern  committee  sought 
information  from  the  Northern  on  four  subjects,  viz.  :  1. 
On  the  doctrine  of  the  Northern  Church  as  to  the  spiritual- 
ity of  the  church — whether  the  deliverance  of  the  last 
Northern  Assembly  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  past 
political  deliverances,  which  it  apparently  contravenes,  or 
whether  the  Northern  Church,  "  as  now  constituted,  holds 
on  this  subject  views  different  from  those  entertained  by 
the  two  Assemblies  to  which  that  church  has  succeeded." 
2.  On  the  principles  and  policy  which  would  be  recognized 
as  vital  by  the  Northern  Assembly  in  the  settlement  of  the 
relation  of  the  colored  people  in  the  South  to  the  church, 
in  case  of  union.  3.  On  the  subject  of  "  the  powers  and 
responsibilities  of  ecclesiastical  boards"  of  the  Northern 
Church,  and  the  extent  to  which  these  boards  are  under 
the  control  of  the  General  Assembly.  4.  On  the  attitude 
of  opinions  within  the  bounds  of  the  Northern  Assembly 
"  touching  those  portions  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  which 
more  specifically  involve  the  great  system  of  truth  known 
as  Calvinistic,  and  particularly  whether  there  is  traceable 
any  distinct  tincture  of  such  Pelagian  and  semi-Pelagian 
heresies  as  were  matter  for  controversy  in  1837."  1 

The  Northern  committee  met  again  in  Baltimore  in  Jan- 
uary, 1888,  and  replied  to  these  questions.2 

The  Southern  Assembly  of  1888  was  "  unable  to  dis- 
cover in  these  replies  that  the  obstacles  to  organic  union  " 
theretofore  "  existing  between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
General  Assemblies "  had  "  to  any  considerable  extent 
been  removed."  Hence,  it  continued  "  established  in  the 
conviction  that  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness,  as 
well  as  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  beloved  Zion," 
would  be  "  best  promoted  by  remaining  ...  a  distinct 

1  "  Minutes  of  1888,"  pp.  458,  459. 

2  For  answers,  see  "  Minutes  of  1888,"  pp.  460-462. 


476 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


member  of  that  one  body,  the  church,  of  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  supreme  and  everlasting  head." 

This  conclusion  was  a  wise  and  righteous  one.  A  few 
months  was  sufficient  to  show  that  the  Northern  com- 
mittee, if  sincere  in  furnishing  information  on  the  fourth 
subject  of  inquiry,  was  wofully  mistaken.  The  cry  of  Re- 
vision of  the  Confession  rose  in  such  volume  and  with  such 
strident  and  piercing  tones,  that  the  deaf  had  to  hear  and 
comprehend  that  Pelagianism  was  abroad.  The  Northern 
Church  was  seen  to  have  many  gangrened  members.  Her 
fifteen  hundred  ministers  from  extra-Presbyterian  sources 
and  her  long-comatose  New  Schoolism  showed  themselves. 

Though  the  boards  of  the  Northern  Church  have  indeed 
been  so  changed  that  they  differ  practically  little  from  our 
committees,  it  would  be  a  retrograde  movement  to  go  from 
our  committees  back  to  boards  ;  our  organization  proclaims 
the  sufficiency  of  the  church  for  its  appointed  work  and  its 
unity.  But  the  attitudes  toward  the  negro  differ  essen- 
tially, and  would  inevitably  fill  the  "  united  church  "  with 
strife.  Northern  Pharisees  would  dictate  terms  of  inter- 
course between  the  Christians  of  the  two  races,  South, 
which  would  lead  to  race  amalgamation  if  followed  out. 

Moreover,  the  two  churches  do  not  stand  together,  as 
the  blindest  can  see,  on  the  non-secular  character  of  the 
church.  They  cannot  stand  together  in  that  witness  soon. 
The  past  of  the  Northern  Church  is  too  potent  on  her  pres- 
ent and  her  future.  She  has  had  a  political  past.  She 
glories  in  it.  She  has  traditions  from  the  past  which  she 
loves,  and  they  keep  the  spirit  alive.  Given  a  similar  set 
of  circumstances,  and  the  Northern  Church  of  to-morrow 
would  do  just  as  bad  or  worse  than  the  two  Assemblies, 
New  and  Old  School,  North,  did  in  1861-65.  What  if 
she  makes  deliverances  on  the  spirituality  of  the  church, 
and  points  to  passages  in  her  confession  which  set  forth 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  PRESBYTERIANS,  NORTH.  477 

that  doctrine  plainly!  Besides,  there  is  a  fundamental 
difference  in  the  view  taken  of  the  moral  nature  of  the 
relation  of  slavery  by  the  Southern  Church  and  that  taken 
by  the  New  School  wing  of  the  Northern  Church.  This 
involves  a  wide  difference  in  the  estimate  of  the  Bible 
as  God's  book.  The  Southern  Church  holds  the  biblical 
view,  and  maintains  that  it  is  right.  The  churches  differ 
also  on  the  true  nature  of  the  ruling  elder's  office,  on  the 
nature  of  Romish  baptism,  on  the  relation  of  woman  to 
the  public  work  of  the  church,  etc.  But  while  refusing 
organic  union,  in  1888  the  Assembly  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee of  Conference  with  a  similar  committee  from  the 
Northern  Assembly  to  confer  on  such  modes  of  fraternal 
cooperation  "  in  Christian  work,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
as  might  be  considered  practicable  and  edifying,"  the  said 
committee  to  report  to  the  next  Assembly. 

The  joint  committee  met  in  New  York  in  1888,  and  in 
Atlanta  in  1889.  They  reached  agreement  on  four  points, 
and  were  able  to  report  a  plan  of  cooperation  which,  with 
the  exceptions  that  it  contained  no  plank  concerning  co- 
operation in  education  and  contained  a  provision  for  the 
union  of  weak  contiguous  congregations  under  a  common 
pastor  from  either  church — like  the  Plan  of  Union  with 
the  Congregationalists  of  1801 — was  the  close  analogue 
of  the  plan  of  cooperation  with  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church.1 

Their  report  was  adopted  entire  by  the  Assembly  of 
1889.  The  results  so  far  have  not  been  great.  The  co- 
operation in  the  foreign  field  is  practicable.  The  ques- 
tions which  disturb  and  divide  here  are  not  so  prominently 
before  the  missionaries  and  their  converts.    The  coopera- 

• 1  The  plank  about  the  evangelization  of  the  colored  people  was  to  this 
effect :  Each  church  will  help  the  other  along  the  lines  of  its  own  preferred 
method  of  working. 


4/8 


THE  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS.       [Chap.  v. 


tion  in  the  home  field  is  possible  only  within  narrow  limits. 
The  cooperation  in  the  colored  evangelization  has  not  been 
largely  illustrated.  Neither  church  is  satisfied  with  the 
position  of  the  other.  Cooperation  in  publication  under 
the  limits  indicated  above  is  useful. 

The  revision  movement  and  the  controversies  with  the 
rationalistic  higher  critics  have  blown  a  cold  breath  on  the 
movement  of  the  churches  toward  each  other  since  1889. 

The  churches  between  which  and  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian Church  there  subsist  terms  of  most  intimate  corre- 
spondence to-day  are  the  DntcJi  Reformed  Church  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  North.  Formally,  the  relation  sub- 
sisting between  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  South,  is  almost  precisely  that  ex- 
isting between  our  church  and  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
North.  There  is  a  difference  in  the  cordiality.  In  the 
former  case  the  relation  sprang  spontaneously  from  both 
churches.  There  has  been  no  hesitancy.  In  the  latter  case 
the  relation  is  half-hearted  on  the  part  of  both  churches. 

4.  Thus  we  have  passed  over  the  history  of  this  church : 
her  origin,  her  growth  in  numbers  and  wealth,  her  growth 
in  the  comprehension  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  and  polity, 
her  relation  to  other  churches  throughout  the  earth.  It 
has  been  shown  that  there  was  good  reason  for  her  com- 
ing into  being  as  a  separate  church,  for  her  continuing  to 
exist  as  a  separate  church  till  to-day.  God  has  put  high 
honors  on  her  in  the  past,  making  her  a  witness  for  the 
non-secular  character  of  the  church,  and  for  a  Bible  Cal- 
vinism, and  for  a  Bible  that  makes  God  teach  and  indorse 
good  ethics,  for  the  government  of  the  church  according 
to  her  divine  constitution,  for  the  highest  form  of  church 
organization  in  the  Presbyterian  body,  perhaps.  She  may 
never  merge  her  witness  for  these  truths  by  an  adulterous 
connection  with  any  church  that  will  not  and  cannot  bear 


THE  CONCLUSION 


479 


a  true  witness  for  them,  but  to  her  eternal  shame.  May 
the  God  who  raised  up  a  Thornwell  to  lead  this  church  in 
her  infant  days,  and  a  McPheeters  to  suffer  for  two  of  her 
Synods  and  for  Christians  everywhere,  who  has  given  a 
Dabney  and  a  Peck,  an  H.  M.  Smith  and  a  B.  M.  Palmer 
to  minister  to  her  people  hitherto,  raise  up  spiritual  sons 
worthy  of  such  fathers  to  lead  the  church  until  another 
body  who  has  the  same  witness  to  make,  or  can  teach  us 
a  truer  one,  shall  admit  us  to  union  with  them. 

No  church  has  a  right  to  an  independent  existence 
which  has  not  a  truth  or  group  of  truths  to  witness  for 
which  other  churches  in  the  country  do  not  witness  for. 
The  church  that  has  such  a  witness  to  make  should  main- 
tain a  separate  existence.  We  believe  in  union,  but  in 
union  with  those  who  hold  God's  essential  truths  fully  as 
we  see  them. 


INDICES. 


METHODISTS,  SOUTH. 


Amusements,  worldly,  94. 

Andrew,  Bishop,  case  of,  18;  char- 
acter of,  19;  resignation  of,  21; 
death  of,  96. 

"Appeal"  of  New  England  Confer- 
ences, 10. 

"Army  Church,"  74. 

Atlanta,  General  Conference  at,  101. 

Bascom,  elected  bishop,  60 ;  sketch  of, 
60,  61. 

Bishops,  Northern,  action  of  1845,  52. 

Bledsoe,  Dr.  A.  T.,  93. 

Book  Concern,  46. 

Brazil  Mission,  124. 

British  Conference,  address  of,  101 ; 
fraternal  delegate  from,  113. 

California,  58. 

Canada,  case  of,  36. 

Cape  May  Commission,  98-100. 

Capers,  Wm.,  delegate  to  England, 
9 ;  elected  bishop,  47 ;  superintend- 
ent of  slave  missions,  116;  death 
of,  64. 

Centenary  celebration,  107. 
Central  University,  68. 
China,  mission  to,  57,  58,  120. 
Church  Extension,  106. 
Class-meeting,  the,  81. 
Colored  M.  E.  Church,  91,  92. 
Colored  people,  86. 
Columbus,  Ga.,  General  Conference 
at,  62. 

Commissioners  on  property  question, 

48,  54,  59- 
Congregationalism,  139. 
Constitution,  89. 

Convention,  the  Louisville,  40,  41. 
"Counter- Appeal,"  10. 
" Declaration  "  of  Southern  delegates, 
29. 

48 


Delegates,  principal,  in  1844,  15. 
Discipline  unchanged,  48. 
Divorce,  in. 

Doggett,  D.  S.,  editor  "  Quarterly 

Review,"  60;  elected  bishop,  82; 

sketch  of,  84;  death  of,  104. 
Duncan,  W.  W.,  elected  bishop,  no. 
Early,  John,  bishop,  64 ;  death  of,  96. 
Ecumenical  Conference,  107. 
Education,  70,  86,  134-136. 
Elliott,  Dr.  Chas.,  29,  32. 
Emory,  John,  delegate  to  England,  36. 
Epworth  League,  112. 
Finley-Trimble  resolution,  23. 
First  General  Conference,  44  ff. 
Fisk,  Gen.  Clinton  B.,  99. 
Fitzgerald,  O.  P.,  103,  113. 
Foss,  C.  D.,  fraternal  delegate,  100. 
Fowler,  Dr.,  fraternal  delegate,  98. 
Fraternity,  federation,  etc.,  141. 
Galloway,  C.  B.,  fraternal  address, 

33 ;  elected  bishop,  1 10. 
General  Conference,  powers  of,  35- 

37,  89,  90. 
Georgia  resisted  slavery,  4. 
German  missions,  127. 
Glenn,  James  E.,  missionary  to  slaves, 

115. 

Granbery,  J.  C,  elected  bishop,  106. 
Harding,  case  of,  in  1844,  15,  16. 
Hargrove,  R.  K.,  elected  bishop,  106. 
Haygood,  A.  G.,  elected  bishop,  106, 

Hedding,  Bishop,  in  General  Confer- 
ence of  1844,  24. 

Homogeneity  of  Southern  Methodism, 
138,  139. 

Honour,  Rev.  John,  116. 

Indians,  58,  126,  127. 

Japan,  mission  to,  125,  126. 

I 


482 


INDICES. 


John,  Dr.  I.  G.,  missionary  secretary, 
1 20. 

Kavanaugh,  H.  H.,  elected  bishop, 

64;  sketch  of,  and  death,  108. 
Keener,  John  C,  eleeted  bishop,  93. 
Key,  Jos.  S.,  elected  bishop,  no. 
Lawsuits,  56,  59. 
Lay  delegation,  82,  88. 
Louisville  Convention,  40,  41. 
Louisville,    General  Conference  at, 

in  1874,  97. 
Marvin,  E.  M.,  as  chaplain,  74 ;  elected 

bishop,  82  ;  sketch  of,  83. 
Massey,  Rev.  John  H.,  116. 
McFerrin,  J.  B.,  Book  Agent,  67;  as 

army  chaplain,   71-73;   as  Book 

Agent,  102;  death  of,  113. 
McKendree,  Bishop,  36,  67,  89. 
McTyeire,  H.  N.,  editor  "Advocate," 

68 ;  elected  bishop,  82 ;  sketch  of, 

84;  death  of,  113. 
Memphis, General  Conference  at,  88  ff. 
Merrill,   Bishop,  quoted,   134,  138, 

141. 

Mexican  missions,  123,  124. 
Missionary  Society,  85,  92,  112. 
Missionary  Society,  Woman's,  127- 
129. 

Missions,  114  ff. 
Moore,  Rev.  G.  W.,  115. 
Morton,  David,  106. 
Negroes,  missions  to,  114,  119. 
Newman,  John  P.,  commissioner,  99. 
New  Orleans,  General  Conference  at, 
79  ff- 

New  York  East  Conference,  80. 
Olin,  Stephen,  17,  52,  115. 
Organic  Union,  141. 
Organization  of  M.  E.  Church,  South, 
38  ff. 

Paine,  Robert,  elected  bishop,  47 ; 
"  Life  of  McKendree,"  67;  death 
of,  104. 

Parker,  Linus,  elected  bishop,  106; 

death  of,  109. 
Parsonage  and  Home  Mis-sion  Society, 

130. 

Pastoral  term  extended,  81. 
Patterson,  W.  M.,  in  Mexico,  123. 
Perfect  love,  bishops  on,  94. 
Petersburg,  Va.,  first  General  Con- 
ference at,  43. 


Pierce,  George  F.,  elected  bishop,  64 ; 

death  and  sketch  of,  108,  109. 
Pierce,  Lovick,  26,  49,  54. 
Pittsburg,  General  Conference  of  M.  E. 

Church  at,  54. 
Plan  of  Separation,  30-32. 
Politics,  138. 
Probation  removed,  81. 
Prohibition,  no,  112. 
"Protest  "  of  the  Southern  delegates, 

27,  28. 

Publishing-house,  63,  101,  136. 
Redford,  A.  H.,  Book  Agent,  85. 
Restrictive  Rule,  change  of,  53. 
Ridgaway,  H.  B.,  fraternal  delegate, 

io7; 

Sanctification,  the  bishops  on,  94. 
Scarritt  Bible  and  Training  School, 
IJI. 

Separation,  Plan  of,  30-32. 

Slavery  in  the  colonies,  4 ;  first  legis- 
lation on,  6 ;  history  of  legislation 
on,  6-14;  Southern  delegates  on, 
34;  rule  on,  expunged,  66. 

Slaves,  missions  to,  58,  65,  114. 

Slicer-Sargent  resolution,  26. 

Snethen,  7. 

Soule,  Bishop,  at  Louisville  Conven- 
tion, 41,  42;  at  first  General  Con- 
ference, 44,  45 ;  death  of,  87. 

St.  Louis,  50,  57,  112. 

Statistics  for  1846,  49;  1850,  1854, 
62;  1858,  68;  i860,  69;  1866,  79; 
1874,  96;  1878,  103;  1886,  111; 
1891-92,  133. 

Summers,  Thos.  O.,  105. 

Temperance,  110-112. 

Theological  schools,  136. 

Tigert  quoted,  36,  37,  84. 

Vanderbilt  University,  103,  135. 

Veto  of  bishops,  90. 

Virginia,  slavery  in  colony  of,  4. 

War,  the  church  during  the,  69-78. 

Wesleyan  Church  organized,  13. 

Whitefield  on  slavery,  4. 

Wightman,W.  M.,  elected  bishop,  82  ; 
death  of,  104. 

Wilson,  A.  W.,  missionary  secretary, 
103  ;  elected  bishop,  106. 

Woman's  societies,  127-131. 

Worldly  amusements,  94. 

Young,  Dr.  R.  A.,  68,  92. 


INDICES. 


483 


UNITED  PRESBYTERIANS. 


Associate  Church  in  Scotland : 
grounds  of  secession,  158;  the 
Marrow  controversy,  159;  E.  Ers- 
kine's  sermon  and  rebuke  by  Synod, 
ibo;  action  of  the  Commission,  161  ; 
the  secession,  162;  Extra-judicial 
Testimony,  162 ;  overtures  of  con- 
ciliation, 162;  progress  of  the  se- 
cession, 163  ;  organization  of  a  Syn- 
od, 163  ;  division  into  Burgher  and 
Anti-Burgher,  164. 

Associate  Church  in  America :  petition 
from  Chester,  60,  165  ;  first  minis- 
ters, 165 ;  organize  a  Presbytery, 
165;  controversy  with  New  Castle 
Presbytery,  165 ;  more  arrivals, 
166;  Dr.  Clarke  joins,  166;  other 
Burgher  ministers,  168;  Anti- 
Burgher  commission,  169;  union 
with  Covenanters,  172;  protest  of 
the  minority,  174;  their  Narrative 
and  Testimony,  1 74 ;  acts  anent  cov- 
enanting, 175,  177;  Presbytery  of 
Kentucky,  1 76 ;  organization  of  a 
Synod,  1 76 ;  correspondence  with 
original  seceders,   179;  statistics, 

l83: 

Associate  Reformed  Church :  its  ori- 
gin, 184;  its  Synod,  184;  Little 
Constitution,  185  ;  had  no  Narrative, 
187;  no  Judicial  Testimony,  188, 
190;  no  covenant  bond,  189;  civil 
magistrate  circa  sacra,  192 ;  its 
Standards,  192  ;  effort  to  unite  with 
the  Reformed  Dutch,  194;  a  Gen- 
eral Synod,  194,  199;  sacramental 
communion,  194;  the  Dr.  Mason 
trouble,  196;  union  with  General 
Assembly,  200 ;  transfer  of  library, 
201  ;  its  restoration,  209. 

Associate  Reformed  New  York  Syn- 
od :  no  meetings,  203 ;  opposes 
union,  204;  becomes  independent, 
204 ;  efforts  toward  a  reunion,  204. 

Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the 
Carolinas  :  dismissed,  200. 

Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the 
West:  why  it  seceded,  214;  forms 
a  General  Synod,  223. 


Baptism  :  by  Arians,  234 ;  by  Roman- 
ists, 234. 

Boards  of  the  church :  home  mis- 
sions, 245  ;  church  extension,  245  ; 
mission  to  the  freedmen,  245  ;  for- 
eign missions,  247 ;  education,  249  ; 
ministerial  relief,  249 ;  publication, 

Book  of  Discipline,  179. 

Bullions'  secession,  180. 

Church  voters,  224. 

Classical  schools,  216. 

Communion:  Associate,  175;  Associ- 
ate Reformed,  195  ;  Synod  of  New 
York,  210;  General  Assembly, 
234;  a  distinctive,  254. 

Cuthbertson,  John,  in  Ireland,  150, 
151;  in  America,  151;  his  first 
communion,  152;  his  labors,  153; 
ordains  elders,  154;  subsequent 
communions,  154. 

Deacons,  217. 

Diagram  of  the  dissenting  churches 
of  Scotland,  146. 

Education,  240;  academies,  241; 
colleges,  241. 

Female  missionary  societies,  238. 

Foreign  Missions :  Associate,  182 ; 
New  York,  209 ;  West,  222. 

Home  Missions :  New  York,  205 ; 
West,  221. 

Instrumental  music,  238. 

Interim  meetings,  176. 

Londonderry  Presbytery,  193. 

Occasional  testimonies,  222. 

Psalms:  Scotch  version,  183;  efforts 
to  improve,  183,  198,  236;  Psalter, 
237;  "  Bible  Songs,"  237. 

Reformed  Dissenting  Presbytery,  181. 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church :  its 
origin,  146;  plan  of  correspondence, 
147 ;  Shields,  Boyd,  Lining,  149 ; 
McMillan  and  Nairne  organize  a 
Presbytery,  150;  refugees  to  Ire- 
land, 150;  to  America,  150;  their 
first  covenanting,  151 ;  Lind  and 
Dobbin,  155;  organize  a  Presby- 
tery, 155  ;  their  fields  of  labor,  155  ; 
views  of  civil  government,  156; 


484 


INDICES. 


union  with  seceders,  156;  reorgani- 
zation, 156. 
Renwick,  James,  148;  last  martyr, 
149. 

Sanquhar  protests,  147,  149. 

Secret  societies:  Associate,  182;  New 
York,  205 ;  West,  219;  U.  P.,  254. 

Slavery:  Associate,  177;  Kendall 
mobbed,  179;  New  York,  210; 
West,  217. 

Temperance:  Associate,  181;  New 
York,  206;  West,  220;  U.  P.,  235. 

Theological  education,  242. 

Theological  seminaries :  Dutch  Re- 
formed, 242  ;  Associate,  1 76 ;  at 
Service,  242 ;  at  New  York,  243 ; 


at  Newburg,  208  ;  at  Pittsburg,  215; 
at  Oxford,  216. 

Unions :  Reformed  and  Associate, 
172;  New  York  and  West,  212  ;  of 
1858,  its  history,  225  ;  its  basis,  228 ; 
conferences  for  prayer,  231  ;  final 
action,  232 ;  consummation,  232. 

United  Presbyterian  Church :  the  re- 
sult of  unions,  145  ;  the  representa- 
tive of  Scotch  dissenters,  145  ;  or- 
ganized, 233  ;  territory  and  growth, 
250 ;  its  denominational  attitude, 
251  ;  loyalty  to  Jesus,  252;  to  the 
Word  of  God,  253 ;  fundamental 
doctrines,  254. 

Young  Men's  Fund,  216. 


CUMBERLAND 
Abel,  Mr.,  277.. 

African    Cumberland  Presbyterian 

Church,  300. 
Alexander,  Dr.  A.,  263. 
Armstrong,  J.  C,  296. 
Bacon,  Sumner,  291. 
Baxter,  Dr.  George,  263. 
Beard,  Richard,  290,  293,  297. 
Beck,  Mr.,  276. 
Bell,  Dr.  Robert,  295. 
Bethel  College,  298. 
Bird,  Milton,  299. 
Bloodworth,  Mr.,  277. 
Board  of  Church  Erection,  296. 
Board  of  Education,  298. 
Board  of  Missions,  296. 
Bone,  M.  H.,  291. 
Brainerd,  David,  295. 
Calhoun,  Thomas,  288,  290. 
Circular  Letter,  272. 
Cossett,  Franceway  R.,  297. 
Cumberland  College,  297. 
"  Cumberland  Presbyterian, 

299. 

Cumberland  Synod,  287. 
Cumberland  University,  297. 
Davidson,  Dr.,  266. 
Delegation    from  Muhlenburg 
West  Tennessee,  286. 


PRESBYTERIANS. 

Doctrinal  Specifications,  304. 
Donald,  Thomas,  281. 
Donnell,  Robert,  288. 
Elliot,  John,  295. 
Ewing,  Finis,  259,  268,  288. 
First  eighteen  Presbyteries,  288. 
Gallagher,  James,  265. 
Gordon,  M.  L.,  296. 
Grider,  Dr.  J.  S.,  298. 
Hodge,  Samuel,  268,  281. 
Hodge,  William,  268. 
Japan,  missions  in,  293. 
Kemper,  Mr.,  277. 
Kentucky  Synod,  264,  266. 
King,  Samuel,  259,  268,  282. 
Lincoln  University,  297. 
Lindsley,  Dr.  J.  B.,  286. 
Lyle,  John,  266. 
Marquis,  Mr.,  277. 
McAdow,  Samuel,  259,  268,  282,  285. 
McDonnold,  Dr.,  301. 
McGee,  William,  268,  288. 
:,"   McGready,  James,   260,   261,  268, 
272. 

McLean,  Ephraim,  270.  # 
McMillan,  John,  261. 
Mexico,  missions  in,  293. 
nd   Missouri  Yalley  College,  297. 
Moore,  Mr.,  277. 


INDICES. 


485 


Name,  the,  259. 
Nashville  Presbytery,  287. 
Nelson,  David,  262. 
Ogden,  John  W.,  290. 
Relation  to  the  negroes,  300. 
"  Religious     and    Literary  Intelli- 
gencer," 299. 
Revised  Confession  of  Faith,  306. 
Revival  of  1800,  260. 
"  Revivalist,  the,"  299. 
Rice,  David,  261,  264,  273. 
Sabbath,  the,  271. 


Sources  and  sketches  of  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  history,  286. 

Testimony  concerning  the  Revival  of 
1800,  262. 

"Theological  Medium,"  299. 

Transylvania  Presbytery,  265,  275. 

Trinity  University,  297. 

Turkey,  missions  in,  296. 

Waynesburg  College,  297. 

Wilson,  J.  P.,  267. 

Women's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
296. 


SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIANS. 


Abingdon,  320. 

"  Address  to  all  the  Churches  of  Jesus 

Christ,"  348,  426,  434. 
Adger,  Dr.  John  B.,  355. 
Africa,  missions  in,  369. 
Alabama  Presbytery  of  the  Associate  | 

Reformed  Church,  359,  439. 
Amendments  of  the  constitution,  41 1. 
Anderson,  Dr.  William  C,  327. 
Arkansas  College,  402. 
Armstrong,  J.  D.,  355. 
Assembly  of  1861,  325. 
Assembly  of  1865,  423. 
Assembly  of  1866,  424. 
Assembly  of  1 871,  384. 
Assembly  of  1874,  381. 
Associate   Reformed   Presbytery  of 

Kentucky,  359,  452. 
Atlanta  Convention,  334. 
Augusta  Assembly,  336. 
Austin  College,  402. 
Austin  School  of  Theology,  396. 
Backus,  Dr.  John  T.,  330. 
Barnett,  Dr.,  406. 
Baxter,  Dr.  George  A.,  394. 
Bocock,  Dr.  John  H.,  355. 
Brazil,  missions  in,  369. 
Breckenridge,  Dr.  R.  J.,  323,  440. 
Brooks,  Dr.  J.  H.,  469. 
Brown,  John,  397. 
Cape  Fear  River,  318. 
Center  College,  322. 
"  Central  Presbyterian,  the,"  406. 
Central  University,  400. 


Chaplains  for  the  armies  of  the  Con- 
federacy, 384. 

Charter  of  the  Assembly,  346,  407. 

"  Children's  Friend,"  404. 

China,  Colombia,  Congo,  Corea,  Cuba, 
missions  in,  369. 

"  Christian  Observer,  the,"  406. 

Colored  Evangelical  Fund,  378. 

Colored  Presbyterian  Church,  381. 

Columbia  Seminary,  322,  394. 

Committee  of  Conference  on  Coopera- 
tion, 474. 

Committee  of  Publication,  345. 

Committee  of  Sustentation,  374. 

Committee  on  Foreign  Correspond- 
ence, 424. 

Constitution,  410. 

Correspondence,  fraternal,  455. 

Correspondence  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  458. 

Cotton,  John,  319. 

Craig,  J.  N.,  386. 

Dabney,  Dr.  R.  L.,  322,  394,  396, 

404,  412,  418. 
Danville  Seminary,  322. 
Davidson  College,  399. 
"  Declaration    and   Testimony"  of 

Louisville  Presbytery,  443. 
Divinity  School  of  the  Southwestern 

Presbyterian  University,  396. 
Doctrine,  410. 
Doughty,  Francis,  319. 
Dutch  Presbyterians,  318. 


486 


INDICES. 


"  Earnest  Worker,"  405. 

Education,  387. 

English  Presbyterians,  317. 

Evangelical  work,  376. 

Executive  Committee  for  the  Educa- 
tion of  Colored  Ministers,  395. 

Executive  Committee  of  Education, 
387- 

Executive  Committee  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, 363,  365. 

Executive  Committee  of  Home  Mis- 
sions, 377. 

First  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  South,  336. 

Foote,  Dr.  Wm.  H.,  355. 

Foreign  missions,  339,  362. 

Funds,  the  five,  384. 

General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America,  457. 

German  Presbyterians,  318. 

Girardeau,  Dr.,  456,  461. 

Gordon,  Dr.  E.  C.,  402. 

Goulding,  Dr.  Thomas,  394. 

Gray,  Dr.,  335. 

Gurley  Order,  the,  448. 

Hampden  Sidney  College,  321,  322, 
398. 

Hill,  Matthew,  319. 
Hodge,  Dr.  Charles,  327. 
Hoge,  Dr.  Moses,  323,  398,  456. 
"  Home  Missionary,  the,"  407. 
Home  missions,  343,  372. 
Houston,  Dr.  M.  H.,  366,  369. 
Howe,  Dr.  George,  394. 
Huguenots,  318. 

Independent    Presbyterian  Church, 

358,  435- 
Invalid  fund,  the,  375. 
Jacobs,  Dr.  W.  P.,  403. 
Japan,  missions  in,  369. 
Jones,  Dr.  C.  C,  355. 
Jones,  Dr.  Joseph  H.,  335. 
Kerr,  Dr.  R.  P.,  416. 
King  College,  402. 
Eacy,  Dr.  Irving,  355. 
Eeland,  Dr.  A.  \Y.,  394. 
"  Lesson  Helps,"  405. 
"  Lesson  Quarterlies,"  405. 
"  Letter  to  all  the  Churches  of  Jesus 

Christ,"  348. 
Leyburn,  John,  386. 
Liberty  Hall,  321,  397. 


Long,  Dr.  Isaac  J.,  396,  402. 
Louisville  Presbyterian  Theological 

Seminary,  396. 
Luckett,  Dr.  S.  M.,  402. 
Lyon,  Dr.  James  A.,  355. 
Makemie,  Francis,  319. 
Marquess,  Dr.  W.  H.,  402. 
Marysville  College,  322. 
McFarland,  Dr.  Francis,  336,  355. 
Mcllwaine,  Dr.  R.,  366,  386,  399. 
Mecklenburg  Declaration,  320. 
"  Missionary,  the,"  407. 
Missions,  foreign,  339,  362. 
Missions,  home,  343,  372. 
Missions  in  Indian  Territory,  341, 

369- 

Mitchell,  W.  L.,  355. 
Mode  of  electing  committees,  345. 
Moore,  Dr.  W.  W.,  394. 
Moral  hope  of  the  church,  417. 
Morrison,  Dr.  H.,  355. 
"  North  Carolina  Presbyterian,  the," 
406. 

Palmer,  Dr.  B.  M.,  323,  335,  336,  413, 
420,  456. 

Pastoral  Letter  by  the  Assembly  of 

1865,  423. 
Peck,  Dr.  T.  E.,  322,  394,  413,  416. 
Perrin,  T.  C,  355. 
Phillips,  A.  L.,  395. 
Phillips,  Charles,  355. 
Polity,  412. 

"  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Con- 
federate States  of  America,"  335. 

"  Presbyterian  Quarterly,  the,"  406. 

Presbytery  of  Central  Texas,  396. 

Presbytery  of  East  Alabama,  333. 

Presbytery  of  Hanover,  320,  321,  397. 

Presbytery  of  Lexington,  387. 

Presbytery  of  Louisville,  443. 

Presbytery  of  Mississippi,  379. 

Presbytery  of  New  Orleans,  333. 

Presbytery  of  Patapsco,  358,  438. 

Preston,  Col.  J.  T.  L.,  415. 

Pryor,  Dr.  Theodoric,  355. 

Publication,  404. 

Queen's  Museum,  321. 

Ramsay,  Dr.  James  B.,  355. 

Relation  of  the  church  to  other  bodies, 
422. 

Relations  with  the  state,  423. 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten,  449. 


INDICES. 


487 


Report  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 

Correspondence,  424. 
Report    on    theological  seminaries, 

427- 

Revision  of  Book  of  Discipline,  413. 
Revision  of  the  Directory  of  W orship, 
415. 

Revision  of  the  Hymn-book,  416. 
Rice,  Dr.  John  Holt,  321. 
Robinson,  Dr.  Stuart,  456. 
Ronzone,  Miss,  456. 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  318. 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  318. 
Sheppard,  J.  G.,  355. 
Slavery,  relation  to,  426,  431,  434. 
Smith,  Dr.  B.  M.,  394. 
Smith,  Samuel  Stanhope,  398. 
Social  life  of  the  church,  418. 
"  Soldier's  Visitor,  the,"  404. 
South  Carolina  College,  402. 
Southern  Aid  Society  of  New  York, 
386. 

"  Southern  Presbyterian,  the,"  406. 
"  Southwestern   Presbyterian,  the," 
406. 

Southwestern   Presbyterian  Univer- 
sity, 399. 
Spring,  Dr.,  326. 

"  St.  Louis  Presbyterian,  the,"  406. 

"  Stanley- Matthews  Paper,"  441. 

Stillman,  Dr.  C.  A.,  395. 

Stobo,  Archibald,  319. 

Strickler,  Dr.,  406. 

Swayne,  J.  T.,  355. 

Swiss  Presbyterians,  318,  393. 

Synod  of  Kentucky,  359,  396,  439. 

Synod  of  Missouri,  359,  396,  452. 

Synod  of  Virginia,  379. 


Temperance,  420. 

Thornwell,  Dr.  James,  322,  334,  338; 

395,  404,  412,  414. 
Thornwell  Orphanage,  403. 
Trail,  William,  319. 
Turner,  Dr.  McNeil,  355. 
Tuscaloosa  Institute,  395. 
Union  Seminary,  321,  322,  393. 
"  Union  Seminary  Magazine,"  406. 
Union  with  the  Alabama  Presbytery, 

439- 

Union  with  the  Associate  Reformed 
Presbytery  of  Kentucky,  452. 

Union  with  the  Independent  Presby- 
terian Church,  435. 

Union  with  the  Presbytery  of  Pa- 
tapsco,  438. 

Union  with  the  Synod  of  Kentucky, 
439- 

Union  with  the  Synod  of  Missouri, 
452. 

Union  with  the  United  Synod  of  the 

South,  436. 
United  Synod  of  the  South,  358,  436. 
Voluntary  agencies,  408. 
Waddel,  Dr.  John  N.,  335,  355. 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  397. 
Washington  College,  321,  322. 
Webb,  W.  P.,  355. 
Westminster  College,  401. 
Whitaker,  Alexander,  318. 
Wilson,  Dr.  J.  Leighton,  341,  355, 

366,  374,  386. 
Wilson,  Dr.  Joseph  R.,  355,  388, 

396. 
Worship,  415. 

Yeomans,  Dr.  John  W.,  330. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  456. 


Date  Due 

